Revisiting An Old Trade: Artem Anisimov Traded To Ottawa
On July 16th, 2019, the Blackhawks traded Artem Anisimov to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Zack Smith. The move was made in the interest to free up more salary cap space in hopes to keep the playoff window cracked open. Anisimov was carrying a cap hit of $4.55 million at the time of the trade while Smith was carrying a cap hit of $3.25 million.
Anisimov never lit up the scoresheet, but he did play solid hockey during his tenure in Chicago. Over his four seasons with the Blackhawks, Anisimov tallied 155 points in 291 games. He also averaged a 45 percent faceoff win percentage during his stint.
Zack Smith never quite panned out in Chicago. Smith only spent one season in a Blackhawks sweater, appearing in 50 games. Smith tallied 11 points and carried a faceoff percentage of 46.32 percent. When healthy, Smith played a big role on the penalty kill and played a big role in the bottom six forward pairings.
While the trade was viewed as a salary dump, I can't quite wrap my head around why a player with average scoring output and faceoff numbers for a weaker player in both categories to only save roughly $1.3 million in cap space. Anisimov had the ability to play up and down the lineup and was producing enough to fix the gaping hole at center that plagued the Blackhawks for years. Chalk it up as another Stan Bowman blunder.
| POLL | ||
Should the Blackhawks have kept Anisimov around longer? | ||
| Yes | 38 | 55.9 % |
| No | 30 | 44.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
