On Monday, the Chicago Blackhawks made an objectively terrible trade, a deal that made them a worse team in the here and now while simultaneously strengthening a potential playoff rival. Why did they do it? Presumably for salary-cap reasons.
ESPN's Pierre LeBrun noted the details of the trade:
NHL Numbers tells the story for us. Andrew Desjardins, depth centre, has a $750,000 cap hit this season and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Meanwhile Ben Smith, depth centre, has a $1.5 million cap hit for this season and also 2015-16. From a Chicago perspective, there’s no doubt that’s the real selling feature.
The problem is that San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson didn’t wake up one morning with the uncontrollable urge to solve counterpart Stan Bowman’s problems. If he’s willing to take on a player who costs twice as much, there must be a reason for it. As it turns out, the reason is that Smith is a far better player than Desjardins.
Not that the difference is obvious at first glance. Desjardins has eight points on t ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis