It was obvious that the Chicago Blackhawks were going to be forced to make some unpleasant salary cap-related decisions this summer. What was not at all apparent was that star winger Brandon Saad was going to be a casualty of those moves.
On June 30, Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman shocked the hockey world by pulling off a blockbuster trade that sent Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Here are the details, courtesy of NHL.com:
Columbus received Saad, defenceman Michael Paliotta and forward Alex Broadhurst.
Chicago received forwards Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin and Corey Tropp as well as a fourth-round pick in the 2016 Draft.
Saad has bounced around the Blue Jackets lineup, but his overall numbers have been pretty strong. His 17 points in 28 games project to a full-season scoring total somewhere in the 50-point range, which is what he managed in Chicago. The dynamics of that scoring are a little different—he’s put in more power play goals but has seen a decline in his even-strength numbers. His performance by shot metrics such as Corsi has been right around the team average.
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
Breaking Down Early Returns on the Brandon Saad Trade
December 9th, 2015 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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