Hard to believe that the Hawks would want to trade Sharp now with Patrick Kane out, but it seems they are shopping him, and the Washington Capitals are apparently interested.
How on Earth could this work with both teams having cap space issues?
It's no secret Chicago has been looking to trade Sharp and his $5.9M cap hit. The Blackhawks are $.331 away from the cap ceiling, but with Kane being on LTIR, they now have a lot of wiggle room to bring in someone like Antoine Vermette from Arizona.
Vermette would make Sharp expendable and give the Blackhawks a little more cap room to make any other adjustments.
So how would the Caps be able to fit Sharp in their lineup?
That's a great question.
The Caps have $2.074M in cap space, which means they would have to move either Brooks Laich, Troy Brouwer or Joel Ward to give them enough room to bring in this third pairing defenseman they have been rumored to be hunting for (which I'm still skeptical about since Orlov will be coming back soon).
OR
The Caps and Hawks will make a real hockey trade.
With Kimmo Timonen on board in Chicago now, the Blackhawks now have an extra defenseman. Would either Johnny Oduya or Michal Rozsival be included with Patrick Sharp?
Who else could the Caps include that the Blackhawks would want besides draft picks? I guess anything is possible at this point.
Chicago is one of the smartest organizations in the league, and they're no dummies when it comes to finding the right pieces for their lineup.
Let's hope the same for the new management in Washington.
More to come when I hear more...
Thanks for reading.