First To Fall: Hjalmarsson Traded to Phoenix

Well, Stan promised changes and here we go.  Niklas Hjalmarsson is the first of the Old Guard to be sent off in exchange for someone younger and presumably not yet pummeled half-to-death from blocking shots.  Hjammer has been the most consistent d-man on The Hawks for years.  Perhaps not the best but, with rare exception, you knew what you would get from him.  He's always been a favourite of mine and I'm sad to see him go.

                                               GodDAMMIT, Stan....

Coming Chicago's way are Connor Murphy, who is thankfully slightly less weird looking than his dad, Gord, along with AHL/NHL guy Laurent Dauphin.  The net salary implications are basically a push, although we get another guy, for whatever that's worth.

                                              Ha haaa....so long, AZ.

I know almost nothing about either player, simply because they're from the largely irrelevant Phoenix system. Murphy, a d-man, sports decent size and pretty average numbers compared to his co-Coyotes, which can mean a lot of things considering The Coyotes are a match away from being an out-of-control skip-fire.  I guess what he is, most of all, is a big young guy with NHL experience.  In three full seasons in the show he's missed only 18 games, some of which we can presume were healthy scratches, so let's assume he's somewhat durable, as well.

          This is a photo of the other guy.  Now imagine him in an IceHogs jersey.

I dunno.  My first reaction was that The Hawks traded the wrong guy, but we know Keith isn't going anywhere and Seabrook's salary is a big ask.  This is probably a good value, even it sucks to see Hjammer leave....