I watched Patrick Sharp toil as an underage junior with The Thunder Bay Flyers back in 1998, playing alongside his older brother, Chris. Chris Sharp was a skilled player, always a leader on whatever team he was on and was absolutely consistent in his assertion that his younger brother was the better player of the two and, in retrospect, he was spot on. In two seasons with the Thunder Bay Tier-2 club Patrick put up impressive numbers on a declining Flyers team, ranking second in team scoring as a rookie and leading the team in assists and points in his second year. At that level, Sharp seemed crazy-fast, had alarmingly good puck control and was incredibly well balanced, his wide, powerful skating stance making him instantly recognizable even when he wasn't soaring past less fleet opponents. I was pleased and proud when Sharpie was drafted by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2001 draft; even though I couldn't stand Philadelphia (still can't) I was excited that a guy I had so enjoyed watching in my home town rink had a legitimate shot to make the NHL.
Three partial seasons with the then-competitive Flyers failed to showcase Sharp's true worth, as he was nearly always buried on the fourth line with such offensive juggernauts as Todd Fedoruk and Donald Brashear. A full season in the AHL during the lockout year of 2004-05 served notice that Sharpie was The Real Deal, as he was a major contributor on The Philadelphia Phantoms Calder Cup winning team. He probably should have won playoff MVP that year after leading The Phantoms in playoff scoring and scoring both goals in the final 2-1 victory to clinch the AHL championship.
Salvation came in the form of The Hawks when they traded for Sharp midway through the 2005-06 season in a barely noticed deal involving spare parts and draft picks. Sharpie joined a Hawks team that was squarely in the midst of a Dark Age, having missed the playoffs six out the previous seven seasons and boasting such talent as Kyle Calder, Tyler Arnason and Mark Bell. We all know how the rest went; smart drafting, a few adroit trades and having the patience to stick to the program and develop the good, young players they had obtained...a dynasty was made.
Flash forward to this season. The piper needs to be paid and, through a combination of priorities, performance and doggedly persistent rumours of Sharp-fuelled disharmony in The Hawks' dressing room, Chicago's Most Handsome Athlete found himself the subject of trade talk. Everything about Sharp "needing" to be traded due to the ever-looming specter of the salary cap made perfect sense, but just because something's true it doesn't mean you have to like it. The Hawks renewed their vows with Toews, Kane and Keith, were already deeply committed to Marian Hossa and finally paid Corey Crawford what he's worth, so something had to give, there. Sharp's 2014-15 numbers would not have helped, either, as he had a tough time finding the net and endured another injury, mid-season. I suspect that the mean rumours floating around were a factor, also, and we saw glimpses of how much that background noise was bugging him during game broadcast interviews, as well as some intel learned through Thunder Bay sources. After the Saad trade there seemed to be a small ray of light, a slim chance that The Hawks could find a way to keep #10 in the fold but, ultimately, The Hawks' inability to move Bickell and Versteeg along made it absolutely necessary for Sharp's salary to go away.
(This assumes that Sharp didn't ask for a trade. One could easily see Sharp feeling less invested in Chicago after a season of mean-mouthing and little credit for a great career there. Reports that he and his family were building a home in Connecticut had me convinced that he had requested a move to the NYC area.)
As for the trade itself, what was actually gained by this bit of maneuvering? From my perspective, bearing in mind that I'm still smarting a bit over the finality of it all, not a lot. The entire notion that Sharpie had to be dispatched was was to shed salary, right? Well, that didn't really happen, now, did it. The Hawks received a combined salary hit of $4.2 mil for Daley & Garbutt, netting a mere $1.7 mil worth of relief. Wow. All that and Trevor Daley, too? I realize that Hawks GM Stan Bowman had it all to do where Sharp was concerned; everyone knew that Stan would be frantically shopping Bickell and Versteeg and, when that inevitably came to nothing, Stan would be forced to flog Sharpie and his daunting salary for basically whatever he could get. Talk about being over the barrel in the most public of ways. There is no doubt in my mind that Stan would have tried to get Sharp a spot on one of those NYC-area clubs mentioned above but, aside from New Jersey, those teams all have their own salary cap issues. Anyone that Stan talked to could essentially name their price, take it or leave it, and I expect Stan chose to Leave It quite a few times before settling on the Dallas deal.
Oh well, Sharpie came to Chicago in a legendary steal of a trade so maybe this trade is the universe evening things out again.
No less irritating and twice as puzzling, though, is the addition of Stephen Johns in the deal. Wasn't he supposed to nail down the 5D or 6D position with The Hawks in a couple of months? I was really looking forward to seeing the kid with all the size & savvy playing in The Show. I guess I still might, probably on Dallas' top pair in a year or two, though.
On that tack, though,let's review, just for a sec, the parade of Hawks' top defensive prospects that have exited the Chicago and Rockford areas recently: Johns, Klas Dahlbeck, Nick Leddy, Adam Clendening and Ryan Stanton. Did I miss anyone? Now, what did The Hawks get in exchange for those top prospects? Just off the top of my head, all that remains is the two guys that are coming from Dallas and Ville Pokka, who may just have been elevated to top of the list for the 6D role if Oduya is not re-signed. That's some fancy wheeling and dealing there, Stan.
So what did we get? Not a lot. First there's Ryan Garbutt, who is basically a more score-y Andrew Desjardins. Probably serviceable and will perhaps even play with Desjardins on the fourth line. Still, I'm glad Dallas picked up half of his salary, 'cos $1.8 mil sounds like a lot of dosh for 8G 17A, although he potted 17G the year before so you never know. Actually, we probably do know, as Garbutt will be 30 when the season begins, so the best of Ryan Garbutt may well be behind us all, by now.
Then there's Trevor Daley who is, granted, coming off a "career year" in which he maxed out on goals, assists and points as well as standing-around-while-his-goaltender-flails and getting-caught-up-ice-and-not-able-to-catch-up-'cos-he's-so-dreadfully-slow (gotta love those advanced metrics, ha ha). Daley will be 33 in October which isn't the worst part of this tale, since history has shown us that offensive-type defensemen often persevere long after their teammates that give a shit about checking and maintaining gaps and just plain old playing defense are done, son. The real problem with Daley is that he's so slow, so disinterested in preventing goals against and, worst of all, this "style" of play was not only tolerated but quite possibly encouraged during his long spell in Dallas. But hey, maybe I'm wrong on this and maybe Daley's offense first and defense...when he feels like it style will actually work with a safety net like Hjalmarsson alongside. Maybe, but I doubt it.
In summary, The Hawks received two aging, marginal players in exchange for a highly skilled aging player, who had what may have just been an off year, and that happens to earn too much money. And as far as the salary cap issues are concerned, The Hawks went from being slightly over the cap ceiling to having a mere $1.3 mil cap space, so someone still has to be jettisoned as there are still three Hawks from last year yet to be signed, 'cos $1.3 mil won't even get Kruger re-signed, never mind Oduya and Nordstrom (if there's a chance they'll keep him).
I haven't checked to see when Dallas next visits Chicago but I fully expect a gushy, sentimental tribute to Sharp when he returns in white & green. I hope he scores a friggin' hat trick, too.
A hat trick at the UC, Oct. 3 preseason, would be great! Thanks for the heartfelt commentary on Sharpie - what a loss for the Hawks and their fans.
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