So the dominoes start to fall, and a certain 4 year-old in my household is going to wake up to some bad news tomorrow. His hero, and the name on the Blackhawk sweater he's worn for the last, oh, 60 days or so running, has been traded to the Atlanta Thrashers.
It's a bittersweet moment for Hawk fans. Dustin Byfuglien was arguably not as popular in Chicago as say Kris Versteeg is, and definitely not as popular as Patrick Sharp. But there are many who follow the Hawks, myself included, who feel that the Blackhawks gave up a huge (no pun intended) asset in this trade.
Also gone are Brent Sopel (no surprise), Ben Eager (also not a surprise) and Akim Aliu (a mild surprise).
As I've blogged many times before, I felt the Thrashers were a likely trading partner with the Hawks. The Rick Dudley connection is an obvious one, and Duds has been unabashed in his praise for Byfuglien both on the ice and off.
The Thrash gains a lot of grit and physicality in this deal, not to mention an physical elite talent (if not a complete hockey player at this point) in Aliu.
At the 2009 Prospects Camp, Aliu was clearly the best player on the ice, including Kyle Beach, Shawn Lalonde and other recent high draft picks.
But contrary to reports and blog posts forecasting the doom of the Blackhawks, Stan Bowman came away with a lot from this trade. The Hawks now hold the 24th pick in the first round (acquired in this deal), the 30th (their own), the 43rd and the 54th (also acquired in this deal). In addition they acquire veteran checking center Marty Reasoner. Call him John Madden Light. A nice asset to have centering the third or more likely fourth line. And they pick up the Thrashers 2nd round selection in 2009, American Jeremy Morin.
Morin, in addition to the two draft picks, is key to this deal for the Hawks.
He is a pure goal scorer in the Brett Hull/Brendan Shanahan mode. Not a great skater but possessive of a wicked shot and good hands. Morin had some bad press and mixed reviews about his character going nito the 2009 draft, but has simply produced at every level he's played at before and since, including this past year's World Juniors and an outstanding rookie season at Kitchener in the OHL, where he put up 47 goals and 36 assists in 58 games. Those are big-time numbers, even in junior.
A more complete scouting report on Morin can be found here (thank you to Andrew):
http://www.andrewsstarspage.com/index.php/site/comments/nhl_draft_jeremy_morin_profile/
The Hawks also net $4+ million in cap room with this deal, while, again, more than adequately filling a vacancy that will be created by the ultimate departure of Madden.
Look for my draft preview with Wiz tomorrow.
Bubba, if you're reading this, good luck, pal. You will be missed. All the best in Atlanta,
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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