Well, well, well, we knew it was coming, and we knew the return wouldn't be great, but the much anticipated trade of Patrick Sharp finally went down on Friday evening. While the return was what was expected, the package that StanBo sent to Dallas was enough to warrant me coming out of my summertime writing coma to bitch and moan.
Just as my blood pressure finally got back down to healthy levels following the blood boiling deal of Brandon Saad to my bromance town of Columbus (I already stated my opinion on that during the last shoutcast), StanBo decided to pull off another stunner last night in the Sharp deal. The fact that Sharp was dealt doesn't piss me off, its the fact that StanBo included yet another highly touted defensive prospect go in a deal. Remember last year's cap casualty Nick Leddy? How about Adam Clendening? Or maybe even Klas Dahlbeck? Well now you can add Stephen Johns to that list. What a lovely list it is isn't? For a team that is already wafer thin on defense, lets throw in another defensive prospect in a Sharp deal. Before I get the "Stan had to throw him in to get rid of Sharp" bullshit, let me remind you, StanBo had NO leverage whatsoever in making a deal. He was his usual self and overvalued Sharp at the draft, and thus held onto him instead of taking a package of prospects and picks. So while holding out and being stubborn, Stan was rewarded by have his balls in a vice by teams and had to THROW in a high prospect to rid the salary of Sharp. Terrific move. Let me give you a standing ovation on your stubbornness.
Hang on, I'm still clapping.
The part that aggravates the hell out of me in the inclusion of Johns in the Sharp deal is, you gave away a future NHL defenseman to a team within the division, and got nothing for the future in return. Nothing, nada, zip. Not even a 2017 draft pick. The inclusion of any sort of prospect would have been acceptable to me as well. But to get nothing, makes this trade hard to comprehend. What the Blackhawks received for the package of Sharp and Johns was puck moving defenseman Trevor Daley and an older version of Andrew Shaw in Ryan Garbutt. I guess we should jump for joy that noted dickbag Antoine Roussel.
There's nothing that makes me more happy than to hear StanBo and the rest of the Blackhawks management go gaga over their prized prospects, only to see them all shipped out of town in deals. For every good Andrew Desjardins for Ben Smith deal that StanBo pulls off, there's more "what the fuck is this" type deals that he makes. Rewind to that Leddy trade. Here the Blackhawks are less than a year after trading him, and all the Blackhawks have to show for it is PH photo shop guru Derek Harms' favorite future career AHL defenseman Ville Pokka. Now the jury is still out on Pokka, but to have him as the only piece left in the Leddy trade is disappointing. The other pieces received in that deal were; TJ Brennan (who was flipped in February for Spencer Abbott, who recently bolted Rock Vegas for Sweden) and Anders Nilsson who had his NHL rights traded to Edmonton earlier in the week. Fast forward to the Saad trade, and I'm honestly surprised someone (I'm looking at you Jeremy Morin) hasn't been deal already.
So before everyone gets drunk on the 3 Cups kool-aid, and the "keep the faith" garbage, just remember the Blackhawks third pair on defense is currently penciled in as the Chinese fire drill of Rundblad and TVR. That's comforting to know. I can already hear the whispers of "the Hawks did it with 4 defensemen in the playoffs" talk. Oh please, give me a break.
Fuck it, until the next #BatShitFuckingCrazy trade StanBo pulls off (cough, cough, Corey Crawford or Brent Seabrook) you can find me on the golf course.