Blackhawks Trade Brandon Saad to Columbus

Yesterday, the Hawks traded LW Brandon Saad, along with C Alex Broadhurst and D Michael Paliotta to Columbus for C Artem Anisimov, C Marko Dano, LW Jeremy Morin, and RW Corey Tropp. It definitely hurts to lose Saad, since he was coming off such a good season and is only 22 years old. However, it looks like someone was going to give Saad an offer sheet, reportedly for six years and $39 million. That deal would have made Saad the third-highest paid player on the team, behind Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.

Here’s where things get a bit confusing:

1. The offer sheet the Hawks were so afraid of for Saad carries a cap hit only $600 thousand higher than Patrick Sharp’s current deal.
2. The Hawks just signed Anisimov to a 5-year extension that carries a cap hit of $4.55 million per year.
3. Antoine Vermette’s last deal had a cap hit of $3.75 million per year.
4. Saad is 22, Sharp is 33, Vermette is 32, Anisimov is 27.

My guess is those four facts mean that Sharp is still getting traded and/or Vermette is about to get a huge deal. John Buccigross said on Twitter that the Hawks are still working on the former. As far as the latter goes, I would not be at all surprised if Vermette gets something like $5 million per year. If Sharp does end up staying with the Hawks, it could be that the Hawks think his numbers will get back to where they were prior to this past season if he’s back to playing on the top line consistently.

A little about who the Hawks got in the trade:

Artem Anisimov will be the long-term second line center the Hawks have been after for a few years now. Going into this season, I thought Brad Richards was the bridge at the position until 2015-16, when Teuvo Teräväinen would be ready to take over there, but it looks like he’ll be a wing in the NHL. He had 27 points (7 G, 20 A) in 54 games last season.

Marko Daňo is the guy I’m most excited about here. He’s a really nice prospect; only 20 years old, can play either center or wing, good at both ends, and had 21 points (8 G, 13 A) in 35 NHL games last season. His cap hit is only $925 thousand each of the next two seasons, after which he becomes a restricted free agent.

Jeremy Morin was traded by the Hawks to Columbus last season for a ham sandwich Tim Erixon, who was subsequently placed on waivers and claimed by Toronto. You may remember Morin as the guy Joel Quenneville repeatedly inexplicably scratched in favor of Brandon Bollig in the 2014 playoffs. Morin had 6 points (2 G, 4 A) in 43 NHL games between Chicago and Columbus last year.

Corey Tropp had 8 points (1 G, 7 A) in 61 games last year. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up in Rockford.

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com