Blackhawks dealing with Leddy trade

The day after the Nick Leddy trade to New York wasn't an easy one on his former Blackhawks teammates.

"It's tough," Andrew Shaw said Sunday after practice at Johnny's IceHouse. "But he's looking at the positives. He's going to do well up there. He's going to log a lot of minutes and be a big part of the team.

"He's going to be missed in the locker room, that's for sure."

Veteran Patrick Sharp has been through these things many times, but that still didn't make the trade of the popular defenseman any easier.

"He has a heck of a chance to become a star in the league, and we all think he's going to be," Sharp said. "We've all said it a thousand times: It's professional sports, it's part of the business, and we've all come to accept that."

As tough as it was for his teammates, the speculation dating to the summer that he might be the one who had to go weighed heavily on Leddy himself.

"It was tough for him, too," coach Joel Quenneville said. "Be it the speculation in the summer, for sure during camp, even the night before when you have to tell him he's not playing late. Organizationally, it's a spot, we had to get there.

"That's past us now and we can look forward to playing. I'm sure the guys who were under that speculation of being traded is never a good situation. It's part of the negatives of our business, of which there aren't too many."

But Leddy's departure means the door's open for a young defenseman to step up and take advantage. Will it be Trevor van Riemsdyk? Kyle Cumiskey? David Runblad? A combo of all three?

"Some opportunities there," Quenneville said. "I know the last few years we had seven or eight on D and always had to sit out a guy with experience. This year there'll be opportunities for other guys to play. We'll see how it works out."

Of the three, it looks like the 23-year-old van Riemsdyk will get the first shot to show what he's got in Thursday's season opener at Dallas.

"His reads, his positioning, anticipation and hockey sense were high end," Quenneville said. "His patience and play recognition was very smooth, clean and neat. Very consistent in games.

"Obviously it's a big step up, but his composure … pretty amazing from where he came into the organization that he has a good chance of starting against Dallas."