Blackhawks deal Versteeg to Maple Leafs
Another popular player from the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup team was moved out on Wednesday night when winger Kris Versteeg and his $3.083 million salary cap hit was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for three prospects.
In exchange for Versteeg and prospect Bill Sweatt, the Hawks got forwards Viktor Stalberg, Philippe Paradis and Chris DiDomenico.
The 6-foot-3, 196-pound Stalberg, 24, is NHL ready, according to Hawks general manager Stan Bowman, having scored 9 goals in 40 games with the Maple Leafs last season.
"We love his speed and size," Bowman said. "We've got some great playmakers on our team and I think when you put him with some guys who can make plays, I think he has a lot of potential.
"The two young kids we got have a little bit of everything in terms of competitiveness, skill and physical play."
Paradis is a former No. 1 draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Hawks now have traded Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel, Ben Eager and Colin Fraser since winning the Stanley Cup in order to give themselves some salary cap relief.
"These are tough decisions to make, but I've been trying to warn our fans that the team we fell in love with couldn't stay together," Bowman said.
"We weren't looking to trade anybody, but that's the game we're in today."
By shedding additional payroll - more than $7 million, not counting Cristobal Huet's $5.65 million that's expected to come off the books as well - it gives Bowman more than enough room to re-sign restricted free agents Antti Niemi, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Andrew Ladd.
Bowman dismissed rumors of Niemi and Hjalmarsson possibly attracting offer sheets as restricted free agents.
"The rumors happen a lot, but offer sheets don't happen - look back over 10 years and there have been a handful," Bowman said. "They don't concern me. These guys are going to remain with the Blackhawks.
"We're certainly going to work on getting them signed, but I'm not concerned about that at all. They're not going anywhere. We have plenty of flexibility to make things work with the structure of our team right now."
Free agency starts today and Bowman admitted he would be shopping to improve the team, possibly in terms of size up front and more experience on defense.
"We have some more flexibility to look at free agents than we did yesterday," Bowman said. "It's something we'll take a look at. There are some players that we like."
A lot depends, of course, on how high the bidding goes for certain players. The Hawks have some money to spend, just not as much as the last two summers when they signed Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell, John Madden and Huet as free agents.
"It's tough to predict what's going to happen," Bowman said. "These things can go a lot of different ways."
Five Hawks are set to become unrestricted free agents today in Madden, right wing Adam Burish and defensemen Nick Boynton, Jordan Hendry and Kim Johnsson.
Madden figures to sign elsewhere. Burish and Hendry might have a place back with the Hawks depending on how much money they want.
In the last week Bowman has done a good job addressing his salary cap issues while stockpiling draft picks and better than average prospects such as Stalberg and Jeremy Morin, acquired from Atlanta in the deal involving Byfuglien, Sopel and Eager.
"In a matter of a week we got a lot of assets who are going to be contributors to the Blackhawks," Bowman said.