Blackhawks trade retired Brent Seabrook’s contract to Lightning for Tyler Johnson, pickBen Popeon July 28, 2021 at 3:15 am

The Blackhawks traded the retired Brent Seabrook’s contract to the Lightning late Tuesday in exchange for forward Tyler Johnson and a 2023 second-round draft pick.

It was their second trade of Tuesday alone in which they acquired a useful NHL player for essentially no trade cost, after doing the same with retirement-contemplating goalie Marc-Andre Fleury earlier in the day.

It also continued a hyperactive July for general manager Stan Bowman, who has also traded Duncan Keith and acquired Seth Jones in the past two weeks alone.

Johnson, a 30-year-old center, has seen his production decline in recent seasons, down from a career-high 72 points in 2014-15 and an impressive 47 points as recently as 2018-19 to 22 points (in 55 games) last season. But the Hawks will be able to offer him more playing time than the stacked Lightning could.

“Johnson adds a large amount of skill and depth to our offense,” Bowman said in a statement. “His versatility across the lineup, two-way play and championship experience throughout his career make our lineup stronger.”

The impact of the trade on the Hawks’ rapidly evolving salary cap situation is tougher to evaluate, though.

Johnson’s $5 million cap hit for the next three years is technically cheaper than Seabrook’s $6.875 million cap hit for the next two, but Seabrook will spend those two years on long-term injured reserve whereas Johnson is an active player.

Seabrook medically retired in March due to a variety of health issues, and Bowman thanked him again Tuesday for his “cooperation in this process.”

If Fleury actually does report to Chicago next season, the Hawks have now added $12.7 million in active 2021-22 cap hits to their books in the past two weeks (factoring in the Jones brothers’ additions and Keith’s subtraction).

They can still create more flexibility by moving Andrew Shaw’s $3.9 million hit to LTIR, but the financial situation looks a lot tighter now than it did at season’s end — a reality potentially reflected in the Hawks’ peculiar decision not to qualify young Pius Suter on Monday.

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