SAAD TO AVALANCHE IN 4-PLAYER DEAL
Hawks get defenseman Zadorov, but trade doesn’t mesh with Bowman’s stated plan
After only two days, the light has turned from green to yellow on the Blackhawks’ rebuild.
The Hawks dealt wing Brandon Saad to the Avalanche on Saturday, moving the man long considered their most viable and valuable trade chip.
But the return they received, while not bad in a vacuum, makes little sense in the context of the supposed ‘‘philosophical’’ new plan for the future general manager Stan Bowman laid out Thursday.
The official trade sent Saad and American Hockey League defenseman Dennis Gilbert to the Avalanche for defenseman Nikita Zadorov and AHL defenseman Anton Lindholm.
The Hawks retained $1 million of Saad’s $6 million cap hit for the upcoming final season of his contract and signed Zadorov, who had been a restricted free agent, to a new one-year, $3.2 million contract.
On the surface, the trade looks better for the Avalanche than it does for the Hawks, but at least it’s not grossly imbalanced.
Zadorov, 25, has used his towering 6-6, 235-pound frame to establish himself as one of the more physically imposing defensemen in the league. He doesn’t chip in a lot of offense (13 points in 64 games last season), and his analytics in the offensive zone look even worse than his point total. But he is solid in his own zone, and that is what the Hawks’ porous defense theoretically needs.
Saad’s ability to drive the play and control the puck in all three zones makes him a valuable commodity in the possession-obsessed NHL. His finishing leaves something to be desired and he hasn’t attained the superstardom many once envisioned, but he’s a consistent top-six wing. The Gilbert and Lindholm portion of the swap is essentially a wash. They’re both depth defensemen who can hold their own in spot duty but have little upside.
In terms of advancing the Hawks along their new path, however, the trade looks far worse than it does on the surface. The slight age difference between Saad and Zadorov — about 2oe years — and the equally slight $1.8 million of extra cap space this trade creates for the Hawks hardly will make a difference in the rebuild. Conversely, the assets Bowman could have gotten had he pursued a different type of trade involving Saad — potentially a firstround pick; an A-grade prospect; or a combination of a second-round pick and a B-grade prospect — would have made a substantial difference in the rebuild.
This type of deal is nearly impossible to reconcile with comments Bowman made Thursday when announcing goalie Corey Crawford’s departure.
‘‘A lot of teams are focusing on looking for young players who can take that next step and play a bigger role,’’ Bowman said at one point. ‘‘That’s really more the direction that we’re headed.’’
At another point, he said: ‘‘When you look at young players, you have to give them the opportunity, you have to guide them, give them feedback. There are going to be bumps in the road, but the idea is we’re going to get more out of them as we go along.’’
Instead, the Hawks’ easiest-to-move trade chip is gone, no promising young players have been added to the organization and one of the roster spots on defense penciled in for Ian Mitchell, Lucas Carlsson, Wyatt Kalynuk and Nicolas Beaudin has been filled by Zadorov, a player already in his prime.
Bowman probably isn’t done with his offseason moves, and trades involving Calvin de Haan, Connor Murphy or others still could clear up the defensive logjam. But after Saturday, it suddenly has become difficult to make sense of Bowman’s plan.