National Hockey League News: Salary Cap behind “Blockbuster” Trade
The upcoming 59.4 million dollar National Hockey League (NHL) Salary cap leaves little wiggle room to manoeuvre for most teams. This was especially true for the Stanley Cup winners, Chicago Blackhawks. In what is being called a “Blockbuster” trade, Stanley Cup’s shining star, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel, Ben Eager and Akim Aliu were traded with Atlanta Thrashers for Marty Reasoner, Joey Crabb and Jeremy Morin. Moreover, The Atlanta Thrashers gave the 24th and 54th overall selections to the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2010 NHL Draft.
The significance of the trade was not lost on Atlanta Thrasher’s General Manager Rick Dudley. He said that the trade “immediately” improves the Thrashers standing as a hockey club which adds the Stanley cup experience to it.
Dustin proved his mettle over the course of the 22-playoff games this season. In his excellent form, the towering six-foot-four giant, shot 11 pucks into the net, assisted with 5 others. The player has played three straight seasons, scoring more than 30 points each. Rick Dudley has a good reason to be excited at the prospect of snatching him for the Thrashers.
On the other hand, Dustin’s 3 million dollars and Sopel’s 2.33 million dollars salaries saves the Chicago Blackhawks considerable cap room, which is fundamentally what the trade is all about. With the drafts at hand, they had to let someone go. Hossa, Keith and Campbell all had long-term contracts with the Blackhawks.
The trade was “simply a salary cap move”, claimed Blackhawk’s General Manager Stan Bowman. He said that the trade was necessary and fulfilled its purpose “to get some draft choices”. Bowman indicated that there might still be more to come but at least now they have more freedom in decision making.
On Atlanta’s side, the trade would have put the Thrashers over the 50 contract maximum reserve list. The deal was almost put in jeopardy but another trade saved it. Thrashers gave Brett Sterling, Mike Vernace and a 7th round draft pick to San Jose Sharks to keep it under the cap. With that, the Blackhawks and Thrashers trade could continue. Thrashers had landed the 24th and 54th draft picks from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Ilya Kovalchuck.
The trade makes Atlanta a force to be reckoned with but would that translate into wins remains to be seen. A change in coaching options also came over the horizon for Atlanta Thrashers as reports surfaced that the Thrashers are looking to have Ramsay replace Anderson as the new head coach.
Reasoner had mixed emotions about leaving Atlanta. He told the press that he wanted to stay with Atlanta for another year to help the team in whatever capacity he could but was also excited at the prospects of going to a team that recently won the Stanley Cup. “It's always a little shocking to be traded, but we've been through it before,” he said. The shock is not limited to the players only. The fans react in different way to these trades too.
Blackhawk’s GM tried to assure fans that even with the departure of some very valuable players, what forms the core of the Chicago Blackhawks would remain intact.
Thrasher’s GM, Dudley has made it known that he would like to keep Byfuglien and Eager in the long run for Atlanta thrashers. “Dustin Byfuglien is a prototypical power forward and another young player, rising star we are adding to our roster”. There was speculation, however, that Dudley was reluctant about entering a longer contract with Sopel, 33, because of his age adopting a more wait and see attitude towards him.
At the end of the day Blackhawks have cut down around 4 million from their payroll and Thrashers have picked up sought after players and star power. A fitting trade.
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