The Blackhawks did it to us once again. Bowman made the trade everyone knew was coming for the last 14 months, to a team in their division, and also gave up their top prospect at a position they were noticeably thin at already. Just another day in the life of a Blackhawks fan.
It was announced last night that the Blackhawks had traded Patrick Sharp and Stephen Johns to the Dallas Stars for Trevor Daley and Ryan Garbutt. Not a dream, or a nightmare. This happened.
The worst kept secret in the NHL was that the Hawks were shopping Sharp. They had been shopping him since, at the latest, early spring of 2014. His age and cap hit were just not something the Blackhawks could retain. Bowman failed to put together a deal of his liking, realistic or not, and the Blackhawks carried Sharp into this past season. Keep in mind Patrick Sharp was an Assistant Captain and vital powerplay piece, on a 2 time Stanley Cup winning team, who had just come off an appearance with the Canadian Olympic team, and a career best 78 point season. But, Stan Bowman couldn't find a single team that would be interested in taking that off his hands, for just a reasonable return.
Fast forward to this last June, before the draft. The Blackhawks had traded away their first round pick, which Bowman values very highly (until they mature after cooking in the system, then he trades them). Sharp had taken a hit in the production department, dropping to only 43 points, and dropping down in the lineup to the third line. Bowman was not able to put together a deal of his liking, once again. They carried Sharp through both the draft and free agency, until last night.
I personally don't care about any sort of return on Sharp. Honestly. He needed to be dumped. His salary was much more than the Blackhawks could swallow. If they got some unsigned 7th round pick from 2013, I would have understood. This was not a deal that they needed a return on. They are pretty deep at forward, wanted to simply shed cap space.
Instead, the Blackhawks packaged their only NHL ready defenseman prospect, and only one with size, into the deal. This is baffling. Don't give me this "Bowman had to give up their best AHL prospect to get a deal done".
If Bowman that bad at dealing, then he needs to be doing something else. This is not some kind of creative cap wizardry. This is straight out larceny. Complain, whine, and be mad at me all you'd like, but being a hugely successful, deep NHL franchise does not require fleecing most of your young talent for spare parts. It is supposed to mean that teams come to YOU, to clear out the wealth and take it off your hands. The Blackhawks essentially gave up some veteran leadership and the future on defense, in a single deal. For a Johnny Oduya replacement and an agitating face puncher.
I will never understand Stephen Johns being traded. In fact, I would have understood Teuvo Teravainen being traded, before Johns. I thought maybe if I slept on this part of the trade, it would somehow make more sense. It doesn't.
The Blackhawks have traded their 3 top defensive prospects, in the last 5 months. four if you count Mike Paliotta. All. Gone. After developing them for years. Adam Clendening, Klas Dahlbeck, Mike Paliotta and Stephen Johns are all playing elsewhere, while this already thin organization scratch their collective heads. Remember, just a month ago, the Blackhawks were forced to play their top 4 defenders nearly into the grave for the Cup, because their defensive depth was such utter garbage.
How do we fix that? Trade 2 of the top 3 young ones away. Daley is a wash, because he just replaced Oduya. The Blackhawks gained a couple of years of youth, but lost Oduya's experience. All this for, $2.5 Million in cap relief, because they took $4.2 Million back. From a team that still has OVER $6 Million in cap space remaining.
Let us not forget that the Blackhawks just traded their top young forward, in Saad, just a couple of weeks ago with Paliotta.
One last thing. For the lazy assholes that can only come back with "were you in the room negotiating?"
Take that, your #3CUPZ defense and shove them up right up your ass. The only thing that says is, "I know nothing, so screw it, I'll stick my head in the sand"
Once again, here are the Blackhawks NHL Cap Hits:
