The Sharks and Blackhawks flipped forwards on trade deadline day, with Chicago getting Andrew Desjardins in exchange for Ben Smith, who is on his way to the Bay Area, per Sportsnet.
(San Jose will also get a conditional seventh-round pick in 2017.)
Smith, 26, has spent his entire professional career with the ‘Hawks organization and is coming off a good ’13-14 campaign in which he posted career-highs in games (75), goals (14) and points (26). In light of that, this season has been something of a disappointment -- though he’s appeared in 61 of the club’s 63 games, Smith only has five goals and nine points and could be out of the mix now with Antoine Vermette on board, Teuvo Teravainen likely to stick and Kris Versteeg back from injury.
Smith is in the first of a two-year, $3 million deal with a $1.5M average annual cap hit. He’s off the books next summer.
Desjardins, 28, also posted career-highs in games (81) and points (17) last year, but has seen his role reduce a bit this season with just eight points through 56 games (and his average TOI has dropped to 10:27).
Desjardins is a tough customer -- he leads San Jose in fights this year, with six -- and is in the last of a two-year deal worth $1.5 million, with a $750,000 cap hit.
Update: On the financials, per ESPN...Sharks retaining salary on Desjardins allows Hawks to keep Teravainen up
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) March 2, 2015Hawks have Desjardins, Rundblad and Versteeg all at 50 percent salaries. Stan Bowman being creative to manage the cap
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) March 2, 2015