Blackhawks Deal Another One: Ladd Moved To Atlanta

 

Apparently trading away Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel, Ben Eager, Akim Aliu, Colin Fraser, Kris Versteeg and Bill Sweatt was not enough to get the Chicago Blackhawks into comfortable positioning underneath the salary cap. They needed to deal another guy. And that other guy is 24-year old left wing Andrew Ladd, who was dealt to the Atlanta Thrashers amidst all the free agency madness on July 1 for a second round draft pick in 2011 and 22-year defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy.

Ladd will now re-unite with Byfuglien, Sopel, Eager and Aliu in Atlanta after those four were dealt to the Thrashers for a package including Marty Reasoner, Jeremy Morin, Joey Crabb, and the 2010 first and second round draft picks acquired in the Ilya Kovalchuk trade with New Jersey. Ladd is a restricted free agent who was extended a qualifying offer valued at $1.65 million by the Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon. He had the ability to seek higher compensation by filing for arbitration.

How much he would receive via arbitration is unknown, though we could still find out if he elects to go down that road with Atlanta, which one would have to figure as unlikely given the fact that the Thrashers traded for him. But in all of these deals, General Manager Stan Bowman has successfully shed about $5,333,333 in actual salary and $5,594,999 in cap space without even factoring in the cost of re-signing the restricted free agents (of course, this math depends on who you factor in as likely to actually play for Chicago next season from the return deals - I went with Viktor Stalberg and Vishnevskiy actually making the roster.)

This type of wheeling and dealing is necessitated by the fact that performance bonuses to a few of the Blackhawks players as a result of their Stanley Cup Championship actually drops the team's cap number lower than other teams next season. And with Antti Niemi needing a new deal with no hometown discount anticipated, costs largely accumulated during Dale Tallon's reign as GM needed to be cut loose.

Ladd now moved back to the Southeast Division, where he started his career as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes and won a Stanley Cup with them back in 2006. He has top six forward ability, but inconsistency generally reduces him to a checking line forward role. He can score, though, and did so with a career-high 17 goals last season. He is also a presence on the defensive side of the puck, using his size and physicality to guard his own zone.