The Chicago Blackhawks made two surprising roster moves on Friday morning when they placed veteran forward Bryan Bickell on waivers (according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman) and sent Marko Dano to Rockford of the American Hockey League.
Let's start with Bickell, because his contract has been a thorn in the Blackhawks' side pretty much since the moment it was signed. Following an incredible postseason performance during their 2013 Stanley Cup run where Bickell scored nine goals and eight assists in 23 playoff games, the Blackhawks signed him to a four-year, $16 million contract extension, presumably with the hope that he would continue to score goals and serve as a power forward.
The problem: Other than that brief surge in the postseason he had never really been a scoring threat and the cap-strapped Blackhawks were basically paying $4 million per year for a banger and grinder. Given all of the moves the Blackhawks have had to make this offseason to get under the cap, including the trade of young star Brandon Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets, that turned out to be an expensive mistake.
General manager Stan Bowman attempted to move Bickell repeatedly over the summer (one recent rumor involved the Edmonton Oilers and defenseman Nikita Nikitin) but were unable to complete anything, almost certainly because of the money that he is still owed over the next two years. It is likely that he will pass through waivers unclaimed.
If the Blackhawks send him to the minors it will only save them $925,000 in cap space, via General Fanager.
If not claimed, Bickell in the AHL would of course only provide $950,000 in cap space, the rest ($3.05M) would hit the cap as buried salary.
— General Fanager (@generalfanager) October 2, 2015
The other big move Friday was the decision to send Dano to Rockford to start the season. That one is a pretty significant development because Dano was one of the key pieces the Blackhawks received when they traded Saad to the Blue Jackets over the summer.
Still only 20 years old, Dano is coming off of a promising debut season in the NHL that saw him record 21 points in 35 games and then follow it up with what was a pretty promising training camp and preseason performance for the Blackhawks. Given his skill and dirt cheap contract it was expected that he would have some sort of role on this season's team. And he still might in the very near future. It just seems that it won't happen at the start of the season.
