The Chicago Blackhawks have apparently made a rather intriguing signing today. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug tweeted that the Hawks have signed former Oilers forward Fernando Pisani to a one-year, $500,000 deal. Pisani is best remembered as being one of the Oilers most key members of their 2006 Stanley Cup finals team as Pisani proved to be one of the more clutch players during the playoffs.
Since then, Pisani has struggled mightily with staying healthy. In 2008 he broke his ankle and missed most of the 2008-2009 season. Pisani has also struggled with ulcerative colitis, a condition he’s since become a spokesman for to drum up attention for and fight back against the disease. Provided that Pisani can stay healthy and overcome his many struggles, he becomes a low-risk, high-reward kind of player for the Blackhawks and when you’re operating on a limited budget the way they are, those are risks worth taking.
If you’ve forgotten anything about Pisani’s game, and playing out of the spotlight in Edmonton can make that happen sometimes, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal went above and beyond the call of duty to provide a deep, statistical analysis of his game. It’s worth checking out. Now let’s just hope the Blackhawks don’t get too crazy with their goal songs and adopt a certain song by ABBA to accompany this signing. Long live Chelsea Dagger.
