Blackhawks trade Byfuglien to Thrashers
June 24th, 2010 | by |The Chicago Blackhawks made a blockbuster trade with the Thrashers on Wednesday, the Stanley Cup champions moving Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and a prospect to Atlanta for a first-round pick, a second-round pick, prospect Jeremy Morin and veteran forward Marty Reasoner, a source told ESPN.com.
The first- and second-round picks that Chicago gets in the deal were acquired by Atlanta in the trade that sent Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey last February.
The prospect Atlanta is getting from Chicago is Akim Aliu.
The Blackhawks have not confirmed the trade. The trade was being delayed Wednesday night because it would move the Thrashers above the accepted limit of 50 player contracts, a league source told ESPN.com. Until Atlanta moved other contracts to get under the limit, the trade can’t go through. But it is expected to happen.
“It is what it is,” Byfuglien said on “The Afternoon Saloon” on ESPN 1000. “It’s part of the job. You’re not going to stick in one spot the whole time so I’ve got to go.”
After winning their first Stanley Cup since 1961, the Blackhawks were in dire need of shedding salary as new contract extensions for Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane (five years, $31.5 million each) and Duncan Keith (13 years, $72 million) next season put them in a major salary-cap crunch.
That comes on top of Marian Hossa’s deal (12 years, $62.8 million) signed before last season. In addition, defenseman Brian Campbell just completed the second year of an eight-year, $56.8 million contract. Goalie Cristobal Huet, who became a pricey backup, has two years left on four-year, $22.45 million deal. Cup winning goalie Antti Niemi is a restricted free agent who is due a raise.
The Hawks save just over $5 million in cap space with the trade.
Byfuglien has one year left on his contract paying him $3 million, which is also his cap hit. Sopel has one year left on his deal at $2 million although his cap hit is $2.3 million. Eager is a restricted free agent who earned $965,000 this past season, so retaining his rights would have cost at least that much. The only salary the Hawks get back is Reasoner, who has one more year left on his contract at $1.2 million and his cap hit is $1.15 million.
The Hawks will still have decisions to make on whether to keep the relatively high salaries of forwards Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg.
Keith, who won the Norris Trophy on Wednesday night as the NHL’s top defenseman, said the Blackhawks had to start making changes even though the Cup victory was still fresh in their thoughts.
“There might be some more and it’s not going to be fun,” Keith said. “Everybody is going to have to keep moving forward, and a lot of times that’s part of the business.”
Byfuglien was a major force in the Hawks’ run to the Cup, switching from defense to forward to fill needs with the team. The 25-year-old scored three game-winning goals during a sweep of San Jose in the Western Conference finals that put Chicago in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1992. He also had a hat trick in a victory over the Canucks in the conference semifinals.
Against the Flyers in the finals, the 6-foot-4, 257-pound Byfuglien struggled at times against defenseman Chris Pronger but scored three goals over the final two games. He had 11 goals overall during the playoffs after finishing with 17 during the regular season. He has three straight seasons with more than 30 points.
Eager posted seven goals and nine assists in 60 games. Sopel was only a plus-3 for the season but was a big part of the Hawks’ penalty kill, especially late in the regular season and the playoffs.
Reasoner had four goals and 13 assists, his 11th season in the league.
Sopel addressed the trade on his Twitter account. He tweeted “Thank You Everyone for the Amazing Well Wishes, but this is all just Rumor and has not been Confirmed yet. But regardless I LOVE U CHICAGO!”
Pierre LeBrun covers the NHL for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Tags: blackhawks trade, brent sopel, byfuglien, dustin byfuglien, hockey rumors, jeremy morin
