As salary dumping moves continue, the rights to Andrew Ladd were traded to Atlanta for Defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy and a second-round pick in the 2011 draft.
This was a move that didn’t shave any salary, but relieve the Hawks of a contract that they felt was too expensive.
So Ladd takes his bad shoulder and 2 Stanley Cup rings to Atlanta to be reunited with Buff, Sopel and Eager. Appears that Rick Dudley became attached to some of his ex-players.
Since the Byfuglien/Sopel/Eager exchange with Atlanta, Stan Bowman has said he didn’t need to make any additional trades to free salary cap space. But as teams were gearing up for the free agent frenzy, the “other skate” dropped late Wednesday as the salary dumping continued. Kris Versteeg and Bill Sweatt are sent packing, destination Toronto. In return, the Blackhawks get Viktor Stalberg and prospects Philippe Paradis and Christopher DiDomenico.
Though we don’t know much about what we are getting in return, this is a move that should give the Blackhawks more flexibility within the salary cap. This trade will allow the Blackhawks to look at other unrestricted free agents and give them negotiating flexibility with their restricted free agents, including Antti Niemi, Andrew Ladd and Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Versteeg and his 20 goals last season may be tough to replace, but these moves have to be done. As Versteeg and his salary cap hit of $3.083M is moved, Stalberg comes to Chicago with an $850,000 hit. Stalberg may be able to make an immediate impact. He is a big, quick winger that has the potential to evolve into a top-six forward.
With these unpopular, yet necessary salary dumping moves, Hawk fans should be thankful the Stanley Cup has returned to the Windy City. These moves would be just as necessary if the Blackhawks didn’t come home with the Cup. Lord Stanley seems to take some of the sting out of these trades.
