BYE BYE BRENT, BEN, BUFF: Big Trade with Thrashers
The first members of the Stanley Cup Champions to depart were Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel and Ben Eager. They were dealt today to the Atlanta Thrashers for veteran center Marty Reasoner, 19-year-old Jeremy Morin and New Jersey's first and second round picks, which Atlanta acquired in the Ilya Kovalchuk trade.The Hawks needed to shed salary in light of the $4 million "bonus cushion" used by the contracts of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. While Byfuglien and Sopel both did yeoman work in this year's Cup run, the cold hard fact is that their trade value would never be higher than it is right now.
I fully expected the Hawks to have to send draft picks along with any salary dumping they did. In this case, not only did they not dump picks, but they actually improved their standing in this year's draft, and are now in a position for reloading.
In fact, they still might not be done, as Kris Versteeg is another player who the Hawks can sell high. However, the fact that they shed over $5 million in cap space, plus an RFA they weren't going to keep anyway, means any talk of Andrew Ladd not returning will probably evaporate. And that's good.
Between the rise in the cap, plus this trade, the Hawks are heading in the right direction. In fact, you can even go back to the Cam Barker/Kim Johnsson trade from last season, and see the cap situation getting looser.
So far, so good for Stan Bowman.
UPDATE: The Hawks' package to Atlanta also includes minor leaguer Akim Aliu. However, the deal can't be official until Atlanta sheds a contract - this deal gives them 51 contracts in the organization, and teams are only allowed 50. Look for everything to be finalized by Friday afternoon at the absolute earliest.
Posted by Forklift at 6/23/2010 4:57 PM 
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, News and Notes
Tags: Ben Eager Dustin Byfuglien Brent Sopel
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, News and Notes
Tags: Ben Eager Dustin Byfuglien Brent Sopel
The Hawk Haters out there are grinding their teeth down to the jawbone tonight.
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And Dudley got himself some players he can market in Hotlanta.
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I actually liked the trade. I will miss all three but understood why this move was made. They got a lot of value at a cheap price in return. Jermey Morin is suppose to be the real deal someday.
Now if the Blackhawks can just unload that clown Huet, they can be in business to re-sign Niemi and Hjalmarsson.
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Sassone on Morin:
The draft picks and the 6-foot-1, 198-pound Morin are keys to the deal for the Hawks. They now have two first-round picks in Friday's draft, and the 19-year-old Morin had 47 goals and 83 points in 58 games in juniors last season for the Kitchener Rangers.
More here:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=389779&src=149
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Just a hair over $4 million when you factor in the $1.15 million cap hit Reasoner brings.
Waive the Frenchman and trade Versteeg and the Hawks are left with around $10.7 worth of cap space to spread around to 9 guys.
Figure about half of that going to the Finn in the crease and the Swede on the blue line (the living one), and you're looking at maybe around $5 million or so for 4 forwards, 2 d-men and a goalie.
In terms of 2009-10 salaries, that's 6 Colin Frasers and a Corey Crawford.
Or a Ladd, a Fraser, a Corey and 4 Bryan Bickells (league minimum).
Of course, Ladd's probably due for a raise if you want to keep him. (Perhaps they could replace Kopecky with another Colin Fraser and offer Ladd the $500,000 difference?)
And the thought of Corey Crawford is liable to keep me up at night. But any upgrade there is likely to eat deeper into the cap space than $800,000, no?
Maybe this can work, but they're far from out of the woods. Shit's tight all over.
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Like Stan said, he has until October 1st to figure it out.
And who knows what young talent he might pick up at the Draft?
"It's a work in progress," says StanBow.
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I have little doubt Stan will make it work while putting a contender on the ice. I'm just not yet as confident as Fork that we'll see Ladder come back.
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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It will all come down to how well the younger players develop. If Brouwer, Bickell, Beach, and others can fill the vacated roles, then they can weather the storm.
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While the Hawks will in no way concede the Cup next year, I get the feeling that this team is being set up for the year after and beyond. Anybody else thinking that?
One more question - where do the euro-imports fit in now - will any of them make the team this year?
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For chrissakes people, calm the f-ck down. People are already giving up on next year because they traded the lazy Buff, Eager, and Sopel? There was a time not so long ago that people HATED Brent Sopel. Eager is a dime-a-dozen guy, and Buff is an enigma. Some guys had to go and this was the best possible move StanBo could make. It's not like they're losing a 30-goal scorer or a Norris Trophy d-man. Parts are replaceable, and Bowman is doing a good job stockpiling picks to keep the cupboard full.
Seriously, relax, enjoy the fact that they won a Stanley Cup, and worry about whether or not they can repeat as next year's deadline approaches.
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For chrissakes people, calm the f-ck down. People are already giving up on next year because they traded the lazy Buff, Eager, and Sopel?
Who the hell are you talking to, Dave?
Because it can't possibly be anyone here.
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Already moving in the right direction.
I think alot of newcomers to the Hawks (and I have no problems with the new fans), didn't know much about JUST HOW BAD the cap situation was.
McDonough gave Tallon a blank check in the same manner that he gave Hendry a blank check...the problem is many GMs will start to invest like a CEO who's friends with everybody at the SEC.
Bowman is doing great bringing back the reigns....As I've said before, Steeger would be the best bet for them to leave.
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Hi
The Hawks have to dump salary, and the Thrashers took advantage by sending draft picks and a couple of cheaper players to Chicago. The situation underscores the need going forward for the Hawks to be precise on how they spend their money, especially on free agents.
Thanks for this sharing.
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