Blackhawks Acquire Antoine Vermette from Coyotes
The Chicago Blackhawks have acquired Antoine Vermette a forward for the Arizona Coyotes. Chicago is currently in third place in the NHL Central division with a record of 37-21-5. The Blackhawks trail the St. Louis Blues by 5 points and the Nashville Predators by 10 points with 19 games left in the regular season.
In exchange for Vermette, the Blackhawks sent Klas Dahlbeck a defenseman and a first round pick in 2015 to Arizona.
Don Maloney, the general manager for the Coyotes, said that Vermette is a consummate professional, class act and the organization wishing him well in the rest of his NHL career.
Vermette, who is 32, has scored 13 goals with 22 assists this season in 63 games. At the time of the trade, he led the forwards on the Coyotes in ice time averaging 18:54 per game.
He also was leading the forwards on the team in penalty-kill and power play ice time. He ranks No. 8 in the NHL with a winning faceoff percentage of 56% just behind his new teammate Jonathan Toews.
In the 815 regular season games he has played, Vermette has scored 194 goals and handed out 236 assists. He played with Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup finals in 2007.
Vermette becomes an unrestricted free agent following this season. Following Arizona’s loss of 4-1 against Boston, an emotional Vermette spoke about having suited up for Arizona for the last time. He said it was hard but part of today’s NHL.
Dahlbeck, who is just 23, has scored 4 goals and 6 assists in 49 games for the Rockford IceHogs in the AHL.
Maloney said of his new defenseman that Dahlbeck was big, strong and a solid two-way defenseman who competes hard and skates well.
Stan Bowman the general manager for the Blackhawks said he wanted a defenseman and one forward prior to the trade deadline of Monday after Patrick Kane went down on Tuesday with a fractured clavicle. Kane will be sidelined at least 12 weeks.
On Friday, Chicago acquired Kimmo Timonen a defenseman for draft picks from the Philadelphia Flyers.
With only 19 regular season games left on the schedule, the Blackhawks want to shore up their offensive and add some firepower to a strong lineup.
Tampa Bay shutout the Blackhawks on Friday 4-0 adding to the offensive woes for Chicago, which is now 14th in the league in goals scored with 2.8 per game. The Blackhawks are fifth in the league in goals against with 2.3 per game.
