Blackhawks Trade Ryan Garbutt To Anaheim For Jiri Sekac

With Ryan Garbutt being dealt to Anaheim, the Blackhawks have officially dumped the two guys acquired for Patrick Sharp before the All-Star break. Now, before you start complaining about that fact…shut up. There was nothing Stan could do. Everyone knew the Hawks were over the barrel. The Sharp trade was never going to be a win for the Hawks. Stan got what he could, and guess what…the Hawks have won 12 straight and are still one of, if the best team in the league.

As for this specific trade, who knows. Garbutt didn’t have much success here, but he seemed like a solid enough depth player who had some sand to his game. I thought he would be a nice guy to have on the fourth line come playoff time, but #InStanWeTrust.

Sekac has some skill, as you can see above, but he’s never really produced during his short time in the NHL. He has good size at 6’2 and almost 200lbs, but couldn’t make himself an every night player for Montreal or Anaheim the past two years. Anaheim is starving for goals this year, so the fact that guy with pretty good skill couldn’t force his way into that lineup is concerning. It’s tough to say where Sekac will fit in exactly, but he has enough skill to slide up and down the lineup.

Ryan Garbutt is on a one-way deal making $900k, while Sekac has a cap hit of $925k on a two-way deal. The Hawks could send Sekac to Rockford and save some money if they wanted to go that route. Garbutt would’ve had to clear waivers in order to be sent down and the Hawks would’ve lost him for nothing. Sekac is also an RFA this summer and Garbutt is signed through next year. This trade, if nothing else, gives the Hawks some cap flexibility leading up to the deadline, and next summer as well.

Believe it or not, the Hawks aren’t in terrible shape leading up to the deadline

That’s with the Sekac trade factored in. Plenty of space to acquire a rental type player that can help in the playoffs. Dynasty Reign.

PS: I’ve seen a lot of Hawks fans and twitter people speculating about the Hawks and Drouin. I suppose its never a bad idea to take a flyer on a young, cheap, and talented guy like Drouin, but I’d be careful about bringing in a guy who skips games while under contract. There’s a lot of red flags with Drouin.