Blackhawks ship Artem Anisimov to Senators for Zack Smith
The Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators have completed a trade involving two veteran overpriced forwards, and for strictly financial reasons.
Veteran centre Artem Anisimov will be the newest among the new fleet of Senators this offseason, while one of the longest-tenured players in Ottawa, Zack Smith, will head the other direction.
Chicago will open up $1.3 million in cap space with Smith in its lineup as opposed to Anisimov, but will have to pay out more in real dollars having already doled out a signing bonus to the bottom-six centre. Meanwhile, the Senators will cut more cost after trying to sever ties with Smith last summer.
Each have two years remaining on their current contracts.
The Ottawa Senators favourite day of the year is the one after the 30 NHL teams have paid their players their signing bonuses
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) July 16, 2019
Anisimov’s production has waned over the course of the last four seasons with the Blackhawks. He was limited to 15 goals in 2018-19 after slipping to a 31-point total the season prior. Smith is also two seasons removed from his prime, totalling 28 points last season after reaching the 25-goal mark in 2015-16 season.
Smith joins Robin Lehner, Andrew Shaw, Calvin De Haan, Olli Maatta and Alexander Nylander in Chicago after a busy summer for Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman. Meanwhile the Senators have hired a new coach in D.J. Smith, and brought in a fleet of former Toronto Maple Leafs in Ron Hainsey, Nikita Zaitsev, Connor Brown and Tyler Ennis.
The Blackhawks have a little more than $3 million to spend with only Brandon Perlini needing a new contract as a restricted free agent, while the Senators are expected to hold on to most of the near $21 million at their disposal as they continue to rebuild.
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