On The Beat: What exactly is the Blackhawks’ plan moving forward?

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Former Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa celebrates in front of Shea Weber after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime of Game 5 during the first round of the 2010 playoffs. | AP Photo

Since the opening of free agency on July 1, the Blackhawks have added a fourth-line winger in Chris Kunitz, a third-pairing defenseman in Brandon Manning, and a backup goaltender in Cam Ward, while dealing away Vinnie Hinostroza, Jordan Oesterle and Marian Hossa’s contract.

It’s been a pretty underwhelming offseason following a highly disappointing season, and Mark Lazerus of the Sun-Times and Tracey Myers of NHL.com dive right into it with a new episode of On The Beat from prospects camp at MB Ice Arena. They discuss whether Blackhawks fans should expect a splashy trade anytime soon and what, if anything, general manager Stan Bowman should be doing with all this newfound cap space he has. They also discuss what they’ve seen so far at prospect camp (17:15) answer listener questions (20:55) about Anton Forsberg, which members of the core will be Hawks for life, which breaking news stories have ruined their best-laid plans, which red wine to drink, and much more.

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