Hawks trade goalie Raanta to Rangers; make 7 draft picks
Special to the Daily Herald
The Blackhawks pulled off a trade Saturday, but it wasn't to acquire more picks in the 2015 NHL draft and it didn't involve Patrick Sharp, Bryan Bickell or Kris Versteeg.
Instead, after the Hawks made seven picks on the draft's second day, they traded goalie Antti Raanta to the New York Rangers for 22-year old forward prospect Ryan Haggerty.
"You don't come into a draft with an idea of how many trades you're going to make," Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman told reporters after selecting Swedish forward John Dahlstrom with the 211th pick to conclude the draft.
"All you do is work at it. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. It takes two partners to make a deal, and until there's (a deal), you keep working at it."
Raanta, who was third on the depth chart, likely will become the backup for the Rangers. He went 7-4-1 with the Blackhawks and finished with a 1.89 goals-against average and .936 save percentage in 14 games. He went 20-8-5 in 29 NHL games with the Hawks during two seasons.
Haggerty, who signed with the Rangers in March 2014 as a college free agent, has one year left on his entry-level contract. He played in the AHL this season, scoring 15 goals and adding 18 assists in 76 games for Hartford.
Coming into the draft, some expected Bowman to be one of the most active GMs in seeking trades that would eliminate large salaries and add draft picks. That wasn't the case at all.
As for the draft, the Hawks selected four forwards and three defensemen.
They replaced some organizational depth by taking defensemen Dennis Gilbert in the third round, Ryan Shea in the fourth and Joni Tuuola in the sixth, and they placed an emphasis on size among four forwards they selected.
Graham Knott, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound left wing, was the Hawks' first pick of the day. He was taken with 24th in the second round (54th overall) and was compensation for losing former first-rounder Kevin Hayes to the Rangers as an unsigned college free agent.
The Hawks also selected forwards Radovan Bondra (6-5, 220) in the fifth round and Roy Radke (6-2, 203) with the 13th pick in the sixth. Dahlstrom (5-11, 189) was their last pick.
Knott, Bondra and Radke are comparable to Bickell in size and strength. Radke, from Geneva, also has a wealth of knowledge about the Hawks from a lifetime of cheering for them.
"My dad would take me (to games)," said Radke, who had 9 goals and 9 assists in 64 games this season for Barrie in the Ontario Hockey League. "I have a couple pictures where I'm about 1 or 2, wearing a Hawks jersey, so it's just something I've grown up with. I've become a big fan and now I'm just really happy to be drafted by them."
Bowman stayed with the Chicago theme by selecting Gilbert, who originally is from Buffalo but played with the Chicago Steel of the USHL. Shea (6-0, 175) is from Milton, Massachusetts, and played at Boston College High School. Tuuola (6-2, 180) split the season between the top league in Finland and the junior league there.
"We got a lot of the players we were targeting and a nice mixture of forwards and defensemen," Bowman said.
As for the Raanta trade, it wasn't a huge surprise. The eye-opening part was the fact he was the lone Hawks player dealt. Moving Raanta clears $750,000 under next season's $71.4 million salary cap, but that's a drop in the bucket.
The Hawks have 13 players under contract for next season with cap hits totaling $63.3 million, which leaves $8 million to fill 10 more roster spots. That doesn't include contract extensions needed to keep restricted free agents Brandon Saad and Marcus Kruger.
Bowman told reporters that was his next priority, not necessarily completing bigger trades.
"We didn't have a certain number of things we were targeting (in trades)," he said. "When they happen, they'll happen. We've had a lot of discussions, so we'll just keep working at it."