NHL Trade: Canadiens acquire Andrew Shaw from Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks have made another salary dump trade, moving Andrew Shaw to Montreal.

The Chicago Blackhawks have been a powerhouse in the NHL over the last decade, winning three Stanley Cups in seven years. But part of being that good has been trying to fit everything under the salary cap — something that has made keeping the team together very hard.

Andrew Shaw is the latest fan favorite in Chicago to be shipped away to retain cap space.

According to Pierre LeBrun, the NHL has approved a trade that will send Andrew Shaw to the Canadiens in exchange for a pair of picks.

This is another salary cap dump deal for the Blackhawks. They’ve already made a big trade to dump Bryan Bickell’s contract but had to give up Teuvo Teravainen to do so. In trading Shaw to the Habs for picks, the Hawks are on the hook for the rookie scale wages rather than what they owed Shaw.

The question here is, what the Blackhawks will do without him. They have the Rookie of the Year on their roster, but Chicago has to prove they can win without key pieces they’ve had in place for other Stanley Cup runs.

As for Montreal, they needed to add pieces that can get them back to the postseason and it appears they feel Shaw can be part of that push. He was an instrumental piece in the Hawks Stanley Cup runs in the past and the Habs are hoping he can be that key for their hopeful runs in the future.

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