Making Moves

First off, congratulations to Duncan Keith for winning the Norris trophy as the NHL’s best defenceman. It was a well-deserved award for DK, and caps off a remarkable year for him of winning the Stanley Cup, winning an Olympic gold medal and now the Norris trophy.

On to the bigger news regarding the Hawks, with no offence to Keith’s accomplishment of course.

Yesterday, the Chicago Blackhawks completed a blockbuster trade that sent one of their playoff heroes Dustin Byfuglien to the Atlanta Thrashers. Details of the 9 player/pick deal are as follows:

To Atlanta:
• Dustin Byfuglien
• Ben Eager
• Brent Sopel
• Akim Aliu

To Chicago:
• New Jersey’s 2010 1st rounder (pick 24)
• New Jersey’s 2010 2nd rounder (pick 54)
• Marty Reasoner
• Jeremy Morin
• Joey Crabb

In another move, the Blackhawks sent Colin Fraser to the Edmonton Oilers for a 2010 6th round pick.

Good job by Stan Bowman on these two trades. Obviously with the salary cap mess the Hawks are dealing with, bodies were going to have to go. I don’t like the situation as obviously, as a Stanley Cup Champion you’d love to keep your roster intact and defend your title. But the reality is that this was not going to be possible for the Hawks in 2010-11 and that moves were going to have to be made.

The Hawks were able to get something in return for Ben Eager and Brent Sopel, the latter whom many believed had negative trade value. Akim Aliu was a prospect who was behind too many others in the Chicago organization, and Atlanta GM Rick Dudley was Aliu’s biggest supporter during Dudley’s time in the Chicago organization. So it’s not surprising to see Dudley want Aliu. As for Fraser, the Hawks do not have the luxury of spending $800K-$1M on a 4th liner this season as every hundred thousand dollars saved will be huge.

The contributions of Eager, Sopel and Fraser to winning the Stanley Cup will not be forgotten by Hawks fans.

As for what the Hawks received, they got their asking price for Byfuglien, which was a 1st rounder and a good prospect in Jeremy Morin. Morin had a solid World Junior Championship for the USA this past year and will be given all the time he needs to develop. Marty Reasoner could be a cheap replacement for John Madden as he makes $1.15M this year. The Hawks could still turn around and trade him in future moves. Joey Crabb was just a contract sent to Chicago so Atlanta could get under the max of 50 contracts allowed, and will most likely be a UFA in a week or so.

Most importantly, the Hawks were able to shave approximately $4.2M off their payroll in this move and won’t have to worry about qualifying Ben Eager. This will allow them some flexibility to qualify their RFAs like Ladd, Hjalmarsson and Niemi.

The Hawks now hold 5 picks in the first 2 rounds of the 2010 Draft (picks 24, 30, 43, 54 and 60). Whether the Hawks will try to move up to grab a top prospect, or make all 5 picks remains to be seen. Either way, these picks will go a long way to help replenishing the farm with solid prospects.

Which brings us to Buff. It sucks to see him go, without question. But as I’ve set out in my previous blogs, a couple pieces from the secondary core are going to have to be moved this offseason. Bowman decided this was the best deal at this time.

Byfuglien’s contributions to the Stanley Cup will never be forgotten by Hawks fans. He was a monster in the playoffs and was a nightmare for Vancouver and San Jose fans. One downside of this deal is that Roberto Luongo won't be having nightmares anymore. Buff will definitely be missed. But this decision came down to Buff or Patrick Sharp (via my number crunching), and in my opinion the Hawks chose correctly. Sharp is a better player and fills a need at center the Hawks have. And it was an opportunity to sell high on Byfuglien. There is a chance he continues to evolve into an elite power forward. Or he reverts back to the inconsistent player he was for much of the season. That’s now Atlanta’s issue.

Where do the Hawks go from here? Really, it’s tough to say for certain as we currently do not know the exact Hawks cap number. If I had to offer predictions, I’m still pretty sure that Versteeg is next, but it’s tough to say now. Bowman has bought himself a little bit of time now after this deal. Perhaps one of Ladd or Versteeg can still be back, it’s tough to say.

Right now, the unknowns are:

• The amount of bonuses that will be deducted from the Hawks 2010-11 salary cap number
• How much Ladd, Hjalmarsson and Niemi are willing to sign for

Once that’s known, it’ll be easier to make projections on what the lineup will look like.

But for now, I’ll wrap this up by saying thank you to “Big Buff”, “Catfish”,”Benny” and “Fraz” for your heart and contributions to the Blackhawks and best of luck in your new homes.