Salary cap restrictions can force teams into moving around players they wouldn’t want to move around otherwise. In the case of the Chicago Blackhawks, at the end of winning their third Cup in six years, they had to deal away veteran forward and alternate captain Patrick Sharp and power-forward with high potential Brandon Saad. Throughout the duration of the season, the original trading pawns in the Sharp and Saad trades have switched around for the Blackhawks. Here’s how the outcome of those two trades have played out so far.

Sharp and Saad Trades Set Blackhawks Up For Cup Run

Patrick Sharp trade

Sharp was originally traded to the Dallas Stars for defenseman Trevor Daley and forward Ryan Garbutt. But now with only about 20 games left in the regular season, neither of those players are currently on the Blackhawks’ roster. Rob Scuderi and Jiri Sekac also spent some time with the Hawks only to eventually go onto other teams. After all the shuffling pieces, the Blackhawks have eventually traded Patrick Sharp, who had 17 goals and 30 assists in his last 65 games played with Dallas, for Christain Ehrhoff, who has two goals and eight assists in 40 games with the Los Angeles Kings this season.

To be reasonable, it is unfair to compare the forward and the defenseman just on a points basis. Ehrhoff has 29 blocked shots and 36 hits, ranking 201st among NHL defensemen this season. Sharp, on the other hand, has 19 blocked shots and 62 hits in 65 games, ranking 256th among NHL forwards.

Although this trade was just to open up cap space, the Hawks for the majority of the season have been missing that top winger position beside Toews and Hossa that Sharp would normally play. Quenneville has tried to fill that void with Teuvo Teravainen and Andrew Shaw, both of whom have done an adequate job. But going into the playoffs, the team needs a combination of what the two players bring to the table: physicality and the ability to puck-handle.

Skill wise, the outcome of this trade is very advantageous towards Dallas. But with the extra salary cap space, the Blackhawks had the ability to add different pieces towards the trade deadline to become a front-runner to win the Stanley Cup again this year.

Brandon Saad trade

He was originally traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin, Corey Tropp, and a fourth-round pick in 2016.

Unlike the Sharp trade pawns, the Blackhawks have kept center Anisimov, who has fit nicely between Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin. Anisimov, just like Panarin, has benefited from playing with a possible Hart Trophy winner like Kane. He has 19 goals and 17 assists in 66 games played in Chicago. This is a major improvement in goals scored from last year when he managed to find the back of the net seven times.

Even with only Anisimov in the Saad trade picture, the Blackhawks addressed a major concern from last year in finding a solid second line center. Not only did the Blackhawks address that problem, but they again also opened up cap space which Stan Bowman filled with players who put the Hawks atop the contenders to win the Stanley Cup this year.

Towards the trade deadline, Dano, Morin, and Tropp were all traded away to separate teams. In return, the Blackhawks acquired Andrew Ladd, Matt Fraser, Jay Harrison, Tim Jackman, and Richard Panik.

The most talked about player of this trade and a major reason the Blackhawks are now favoured to win the Cup again this year is Ladd. The former Winnipeg Jets captain won a cup with the Blackhawks in 2010, scoring three goals and three assists in 19 playoff games including a goal in the Cup-clinching game. Since coming back to the roster, Ladd has gotten a point in three of four outings and the team has won three out of four games.

Although the Hawks gave up bright future prospects in Saad and Dano, Stan Bowman saw the opportunity for the Hawks to solidify a dynasty by winning four Cups in seven years. The depth the Blackhawks have in Rockford can help the team in the coming years when players like Ladd most likely won’t return to the Hawks because of salary cap restrictions.

Overall, this was a good trade for the Blackhawks. Saad was asking for too much money that the Hawks couldn’t afford. And even though he has 24 goals and 17 assists in 64 games played this season, Bowman made sure to trade him to a team that is not an immediate threat to the Blackhawks. And now because of this trade, the Hawks are not only stacked on top but are also able to move versatile players like Shaw down the lineup to have a very strong bottom-six grouping heading into the playoffs.

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