As was the case with last week's trade that sent Dustin Byfuglien to Atlanta, clearing much-needed cap space is the motivating factor for Wednesday's deal that resulted in Chicago sending Kris Versteeg to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Prior to the trade Chicago had only $6 million in salary cap space (via CapGeek) with only 13 players under contract for the upcoming season. Simple math tells you that somebody had to go, and Versteeg was next in line.In return for the 24-year-old winger, the Blackhawks received prospects Viktor Stalberg, Chris Didomenico and Phillippe Paradis. According to Hockey's Future, only Stalberg was among Toronto's top-five prospects, while Didomenico and Paradis ranked 12th and 13th respectively.
Along with Versteeg, the Maple Leafs also received prospect Billy Sweatt.
By trading Versteeg, the Blackhawks will save just a little over $3 million per season against the salary cap over the next two seasons; and they're also losing a 20-goal scorer -- and a top-six winger -- that's probably just entering the prime of his career.
That, however, is simply how things work in the salary cap NHL.
Said Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman following the trade: "I've tried to warn our fans that this team they've fallen in love with wasn't going to stay together."
"In one week we've added a lot of young assets who are going to be contributors and surrounding the core group," said Bowman.
Chicago has a couple of players eligible for unrestricted free agency at 12 PM ET on Thursday, including John Madden and Kim Johnsson. The 'Hawks also have to worry about restricted free agents Andrew Ladd, Niklas Hjalmarsson and goaltender Antti Niemi.
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