NHL Trade Rumors: Kings close to dealing Christian Ehrhoff to Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are close to acquiring Christian Ehrhoff from the Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings have been active in trying to find a defenseman for a cheap price as they look to build some defensive depth going into what they hope will be a long playoff run. Fittingly enough, so have the Chicago Blackhawks.
The two teams are reportedly close to swapping depth defensemen as the Blackhawks will be getting Christian Ehrhoff and the Kings will be getting Rob Scuderi. Chicago will likely be retaining some of Scuderi’s salary.
Source says Rob Scuderi likely headed to #LAKings. @TSNBobMcKenzie reporting that Christian Ehrhoff is "likely" headed to #Blackhawks.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) February 26, 2016
Scuderi is someone who the Kings are familiar with. He was a part of their Stanley Cup-winning team in 2011-12 while spending four seasons with the Kings from 2009 to 2013. Scuderi played over 20 minutes a night during his tenure with the Kings and was trusted by Kings head coach Darryl Sutter. He has a $2.25 million cap hit and his contract expires at the end of the 2016-2017 season.
Christian Ehrhoff would give the Blackhawks a bit of cap relief as he will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. He has a $1.5 million cap hit for this season and he is likely a better fit in Chicago than Scuderi. Should the Blackhawks send Ehrhoff down to the AHL, his cap hit would be just $550,000. Ehrhoff is an upgrade over Scuderi, though he isn’t much of one.