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On July 10th, the Dallas Stars traded defenseman Trevor Daley and forward Ryan Garbutt to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for forward Patrick Sharp and defensive prospect Stephen Johns. There have been mixed emotions from Dallas fans, most of whom were sad to hear that Daley would be departing the Dallas organization.
After looking at all of the factors, this has the makings of turning out to be a win-win trade for both the Stars and Blackhawks. The Blackhawks needed to clear cap room in order to keep some of their players who were key factors in their Stanley Cup run, such as Kris Versteeg, and of course their franchise players in Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook. In trading Sharp away, the Blackhawks did exactly what they needed to do with their current cap room situation.
Meanwhile the Dallas Stars are a team looking to get back into the playoffs after a great 2013-2014 season, but ended up coming up short last year in the very deep Central division. They are not a team worried about cap room, and are also a team looking to make cutbacks in defensive mistakes. Daley was a great defenseman for the Stars but his offensive-minded nature cost the team at important times. The Stars are in the market for a forward who can score and play good defensive zone hockey, and a big, strong, stay-at-home defenseman, which is exactly what they got in Sharp and the the 6’3’’ 220-pound Johns.
When you take a look at Dallas’ forwards now it is a pretty scary lineup. In addition to Sharp, they also have Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, Cody Eakin, Ales Hemsky, Patrick Eaves, and Valeri Nichushkin. On the other hand, the Blackhawks’ roster did not really change, which is exactly what they wanted, as they did not want to shake their roster up, and merely traded one veteran for another.
Both teams got what they were looking for, and both teams are going to benefit from this trade. Sharp and Johns give Dallas more offensive firepower and defensive grit, while Daley and Garbutt do the same for Chicago in reverse, in that Daley gives more defensive firepower, and Garbutt gives offensive grit. Look for both teams to benefit positively from this trade during the upcoming NHL season.