Kevin Allen Reviews The Thrashers - Blackhawks Trade

Kevin Allen of USA Today has an extensive review of last week’s trade between the Thrashers and the Blackhawks. A teaser:

If the Atlanta Thrashers wanted a player who could create buzz in the marketplace, they got him in Dustin Byfuglien. If the Thrashers wanted a player who could add intimidation, size and toughness to a lineup that has smaller scorers, they got him in Byfuglien.

If the Thrashers wanted a player who could play on their top line and score 20-plus goals, they might or might not have him in Byfuglien.

Read the rest here.

Conference Call And Interviews Regarding The Deal

Ben Wright of the Blueland Blog has made the full 22 minute conference call with general manager Rick Dudley available (full audio here). Former AJC Thrashers beat writer Craig Custance, now of The Sporting News, had highlights, as does the official NHL.com story.

Dudley had been working with Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman for quite some time to arrange a deal between the two clubs. He’s very enthusiastic about the Thrashers’ newest additions, especially Dustin Byfuglien, who he calls “one of the premiere power forwards in the league.”

Dudley also states that these signings will not dissuade the club from continuing to attempt to re-sign unrestricted free agents Maxim Afinogenov and Pavel Kubina. Both are set to hit the free agent market on July 1.

Today's Trade Can Now Be Approved By The League

The Thrashers have sent AHL prospect (and some might say permanent AHLer) Brett Sterling and his expiring contract, Michael Vernace, and a seventh rounder to the San Jose Sharks for future considerations. This frees up space for the deal from earlier today to be completed and approved by the league.

Trade Hits Small Snag

Per tweets from Chris Vivlamore, the Thrashers reporter for the AJC, the trade has not become official yet. The Thrashers currently have 51 players under contract, and the league max is 50. The easy solution would be to send one more prospect back in the trade (Falconer suggested sending Michael Forney, and I don’t disagree). Regardless of how this gets resolved, it will, as Bob McKenzie of TSN said, have to wait for the draft, which means the trade might not be official until Friday or Saturday at the earliest.

Thrashers Acquire Byfuglien, Sopel, And Eager From Blackhawks

In case you were wondering if the Rick Dudley era in Thrashers history was going to be a large contrast to years past, well, your answer came today. Dudley is three steps closer to building the Blackhawks South branch so many people expected when he was hired on as assistant general manager, and promoted to general manager. Today, in a surprise trade, the Thrashers sent center Marty Reasoner and prospect Jeremy Morin, along with the first and second round picks acquired in the Kovalchuk trade to the Chicago Blackhawks for Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager and Brent Sopel, along with prospect Akim Aliu.

This obviously helps Chicago alleviate some (though not all by any means) some of their salary cap issues. According to CapGeek.com, Byfuglien is set to make $3,000,000 next year. Eager should get a nice payraise to about $1.25 million, and Brent Sopel is making $2,000,000. The cap floor is about $43 million for this season, and the Thrashers should clear that handily.  Here's a mock roster I pieced together, retaining Clarke MacArthur, Pavel Kubina, and Johan Hedberg (since no one is sure at this point what is going on regarding them):

As you can see (and yes, I know I misentered Sopel as a forward - I was in a hurry), we clear the floor by over $3 million with $16 million to spare. The Thrashers have added noticeable size to the team with minimal loss. The pundits and bloggers crying that the Thrashers were hosed by this trade aren't fully thinking things through. First off, we need NHL-caliber players to fill in gaps in the roster. If we trust said holes to prospects, we're still a few years away from playoff contention. We did not need those two picks from New Jersey and they were probably being held as bargaining chips for an opportunity such as this. We also needed toughness - Slater and Thorburn are a nice start, but the addition of the three former Blackhawks gives the forwards some sort of legitimacy when it comes to line matching. We lost a great locker room leader in Reasoner, but we gained three Stanley Cup champions.

And, most importantly, we have turned Kovalchuk, Salmela, Reasoner, and Morin - a superstar who wasn't helping, a seventh defenseman, a grinder, and a prospect with questionable skating speed - into Patrice Cormier, Niclas Bergfors, Johnny Oduya, Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and Akim Aliu (who is farther in development than Morin is). Dudley was expected to make a big impact right off the bat, and this is a good start. Next in his crosshairs is a top six forward to replace some of the firepower that might be lost if Afinogenov walks. This should make the draft interesting for more than who the Thrashers choose eighth overall.

Thrashers Make Huge Trade With Blackhawks

According to sources, the Thrashers have sent Marty Reasoner, Jeremy Morin, and New Jersey's first and second round picks to Chicago for Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager and Brent Sopel. The deal is still awaiting approval from the commissioner's office. Some early reactions, from the Thrasher's blog Bird Watcher's Anonymous:

My initial reaction is disappointment frankly. I wanted to see the Thrashers land Patrick Sharp, not the players headed Atlanta’s way. Byfuglien is a defenseman converted to forwards who has been rather inconsistent so far as a forward. He had a terrific playoffs and the Hawks sold him high. Eager is a checking line player who already makes $1 million. Sopel is an overpaid second/third pairing defenseman with just one year left before he is a free agent. Akim Aliu is a physical checking forward who had issues in junior hockey.

So the Thrashers just added a second line winger, three checkers and a bottom half defenseman and a bunch of salary for a first rounder, second rounder, prospect taken in the second round (Morin) and a solid veteran and potential team captain (Reasoner). At the moment I’m underwhelmed and hope these guys look better in a Thrashers uniform than they do on paper.

This was a cap-driven trade by Chicago, and a trade that Atlanta likely felt they had to make to get players now instead of building through the draft with prospects.