Hawks trade Bollig to create cap space

It wasn't the blockbuster deal that some may have been anticipating, but the Blackhawks did make a trade on Day 2 of the draft Saturday in Philadelphia, swapping rugged winger Brandon Bollig to Calgary for the Flames' 83rd pick in the draft.

With the Hawks about $500,000 over the recently announced salary cap of $69 million, they had to cut some money somewhere, and dropping Bollig's $1.25 million annual take home pay was the route they chose.

“It's always tough when you trade a player that has been part of your crew, a regular player for you,” Hawks general manager Stan Bowman told reporters. “But you have to make tough decisions.

“I think we're not the only team that will go through that.”

With that 83rd pick, the Hawks selected forward Matheson Iacopelli of the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL.

Bollig, who was a mainstay on the fourth line this season, registered 7 goals and 7 assists and was a minus-1 in all 82 regular-season games.

His playing time was greatly reduced in the playoffs, however. He was a healthy scratch in four of those games and finished the postseason with just 1 assist and a minus-6 rating.

And now Bollig, who signed a three-year contract extension in March, is off to Calgary.

“We helped him along, brought him out of college and developed him and he made himself an NHL player,” Bowman said. “But yeah, we've got to look at doing some things like that to prepare for next year.”

While that means the possibility of more moves down the road, Bowman increased the list of untouchables on the Hawks by two — Brandon Saad and Teuvo Teravainen — saying he won't listen to offers for either player.

“No,” he said. “Part of the reason we're able to reach the level that we have as a team and sustain it is we've kept our young players, and we're not going to change that philosophy.

“They're too important to what we're doing. It would be detrimental to them. Not only are they young, but they're talented players. It would be hard to replace their ability as well their age and contract status and all that.”