Blackhawks Trade Olli Maatta For Much Needed Cap Space

The Chicago Blackhawks traded Olli Maatta to the Los Angeles Kings yesterday in exchange for prospect Brad Morrison. Except they really got more than just a prospect in return.

Stan Bowman has not won a lot of trades in the past few seasons in the eyes of many Blackhawks fans. His flaws have hurt the organization, and they have left a lot of fans with a sour taste in their mouths.

Well, here we are, and Stan Bowman just managed to trade away one of the large contracts the Blackhawks needed off of the books. Stan Bowman found a way to trade Olli Maatta to the Los Angeles Kings in a trade that would have required one of our draft picks as a sweetener five years ago.

Was this a great trade? Not really, but did it give the Blackhawks the salary cap space they needed to now hopefully sign Crawford, Strome, and Kubalik? Maybe it did.

The Blackhawks now have over 11 million in cap space to hopefully give back to the players in their organization. The cap space was what the Blackhawks traded for, not the player the team received in the deal. However, let’s talk a little about Brad Morrison.

Brad Morrison is a 2015 fourth-round pick from the New York Rangers. So far during his young career, the 23-year-old center has played in the AHL, WHL, and ECHL. He is described as a speedy skilled forward. However, do not expect to see him in the NHL with the Blackhawks anytime soon.

Hopefully, Morrison can get some time in Rockford next season in the hopes that he can help bolster the Blackhawks depth. Olli Maatta was one of the brighter spots on the Blackhawks blue line this past season, and he will be missed from this team. However, this trade made the most sense for the team.

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It had been talked about for weeks that the Blackhawks would have to buy out some players to get the cap space they needed heading into next season. They basically did buy out Maatta for how little they got in return, but won’t have to worry about his contract counting against the salary cap anymore.

Chicago cleared cap space and opened up a roster spot for one of their young defensemen in Ian Mitchell or Nicolas Beaudin heading into the new year. Thank you, Olli Maatta, for your year in Chicago, and the best of luck to you in the future!