After weeks of speculation and days of anticipation, the Blackhawks traded Mattias Janmark to the Golden Knights on Monday ahead of the NHL trade deadline, per reports.
Hawks general manager Stan Bowman will likely be thrilled with the return. The Hawks acquired a 2021 second-round pick and a 2022 third-round pick by giving up Janmark and a 2022 fifth-round pick.
Janmark was a healthy scratch for the Hawks’ game Saturday for injury protection purposes, making it all-but-certain he’d be on the move.
Before that, the 28-year-old wing had scored 19 points in 41 games in his one and only season in Chicago, although those totals included just one point in his last 10. His analytics were remarkably bad, too. He entered Monday with a 41.7% on-ice shot-attempt ratio, the worst on the team, and 41.9% on-ice scoring chance ratio, second-worst on the team.
The draft picks may not be exciting, but they represent a well-above-expected return for Janmark. His value seemed likely to be around a third-round pick; to get second- and third-round picks for him is an overpayment by the Golden Knights and a much-appreciated haul for the Hawks.
The Sharks were also involved in the trade, retaining some of Janmark’s $2.25 million cap hit to help him fit into the cap space-strapped Knights’ roster. The Sharks received a 2022 fifth-round pick and minor-league player from Vegas for doing so, per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.
This is the fourth trade Bowman has made in recent weeks and the second trade Monday, having also acquired Adam Gaudette from the Canucks.
