The Blackhawks pulled off another deal on Friday, though this one comes with lower expectations of impact down the stretch.
Chicago is reportedly sending veteran defenseman Rob Scuderi to the LA Kings for veteran defenseman Christian Ehrhoff.
Ehrhoff, 33, has two goals and eight assists while averaging 15:10 per night on the blue line in Los Angeles. He had seven power play assists and 32 penalty minutes for the Kings. Ehrhoff is averaging less than 21 minutes per night for the first time since the 2006-07 season, when he was with San Jose. He had 14 points and average 21:46 in 49 games last year for Pittsburgh.
In his career, Ehrhoff has 34 points (seven goals, 27 assists) in 73 postseason games. His last trip to the playoffs was with Vancouver after the 2010-11 season.
Did Stan Bowman just trade Trevor Daley for Andrew Ladd’s cap space and Christian Ehrhoff? I think he sorta did.
— Sean Gentille (@seangentille) February 26, 2016
Scuderi's buried cap hit is $1.3 million. Ehrhoff's cap hit is $1.5 million. Effectively a wash if nothing else is involved. #Blackhawks
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) February 26, 2016
The big difference is Scuderi’s deal has one year left, while Ehrhoff’s expires after this season. Chicago is retaining 50 percent on their share of Scuderi’s salary, while the Kings will retain 15 percent on Ehrhoff.
Scuderi $3.375M cap hit breaks out like this:#Pens – $1.125M#Blackhawks – $1.125M#LAKings – $1.125M
— General Fanager (@generalfanager) February 26, 2016
Ehrhoff's $1.5M meanwhile shakes out like this:#LAKings: $225,000#Blackhawks: $1,275,000 ($325,000 buried)https://t.co/UKCN2ifO5U
— General Fanager (@generalfanager) February 26, 2016
2015: $0.1M annual net cap increase for #Hawks, decrease for #LAKings.
2016: Scuderi costs Hawks $1.125M retained instead of $1.3M buried.— General Fanager (@generalfanager) February 26, 2016
Interesting that these 2 teams would make a trade given they may face each other in the WCF this year!
Hopefully (if this deal goes through) Erhoff has something left in the tank.
http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/e/ehrhoch01.html
Ehrhoff is a decent addition. Rosy and Ehrhoff make an ok pairing. More salary cap jenga by Stan Bowman !
It’s a mystery to me why anyone would want Scuderi.
Not sure I understand this move. We get Ehrhoff and he is off the books after this season, but the Hawks are picking up some of Scuderi’s salary for his contract that runs another year?
Does Ehrhoff have anything left? Why would the Kings help the Hawks and vice versa?
This one is a legit head scratcher???
I wonder if Scuderi’s or Ehrhoff’s agent brokered this deal for the benefit of their clients.
Scuderi has a history with LA, thus the connection/interest.
Won the cup with LA…
http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/s/scudero01.html
Hawks were stuck paying their negotiated portion of Scudieri’s salary in 2016-17. The Penguins retained a portion of his money, but the Hawks DID have some money on the hook. If I’m to understand this deal from Chicago’s perspective, it’s also about freeing up more dollars for next season. Erhloff was a hot steaming mess in Los Angeles and rapidly entered into Sutter’s doghouse. Maybe he can help a little, but this sure looks like yet another one of those patented incremental moves by Bowman that inches salary commitment out the door.
So looked at another way….
Bowman shed Sharp’s salary, but had to take on the salary of Daley and some of the salary of Garbutt…
Bowman shed Daley’s salary, but had to take on some of the salary of Scudieri…
Bowman shed Garbutt’s salary, but had to take on the salary of Sekac…
Bowman shed Scudier’s salary, but had to take on some of the salary of Ehrloff…
Net result? A methodical chipping away of salary with the players received in return from all these various deals inconsequential as none have been legitimate competing pieces. If Bowman could have found a taker for ALL of Sharp’s salary in the first place, then this reverse pyramid scheme of dumping salary would never unfold.
Give Bowman a ton of credit here. Smart GM. Very smart.
@ArmoldZ – very astute observation. SB is indeed a smart GM. We’re lucky to have him. I wonder how much his dad counsels him on things like this, or if he stays out of the way?
Ehrhoff will be better with us. Word from here in LA was that he felt out of place with Sutter’s style, so you’re right on point there, too.
Can you trade retained salary? That’s a wash if I’ve ever heard one.
I’m seeing this as it helps Kings cap wise this year while not hurting the Hawks this year. And help Hawks cap wise next year while not hurting the Kings next year. Am I wrong?
It’s a wash. Within 100k each year. Hawks get a better fit. Kings get a familiar player. Ehrhoff wasn’t that terrible with the Kings.
…..hard to believe Jared Cowen is on waivers?…..Blackhawks should grab this one too…lol…..but I think we are done salary cap wise….unless Bickell can be unloaded?
I’m with Hockey Junkie on this one. Who called who ? Did Lombardi call Stan and say ” hey any chance you might move Scuderi to us, if we eat some of his contract for next year ? ”
This is like the Cardinals and Giants making a deal before the MLB trade deadline.
Don’t get me wrong, the less salary from Scuderi that is on the books to start 2016-2017, the better. I’m not overly excited about Ehrhoff.
The Harrison addition last night pretty much cancelled out Scuderi.
@ARNOLD ZIFFEL
Good point on how all these deals were linked, starting with the Sharp trade. I wonder if you or someone else who has access to this kind of info (Ernie?) could give a breakdown of how much cap space the Hawks had tied up in this group of players, before and after each of the above deals?
Sharpy 5.9
Daley 3.3
Scuderi 2.2 (1.3 caphit when on Rockford roster)
Scuderi at 50% retained 1.125 (is .200 better then 1.3 when on Rockford roster)
Ehrhoff 1.275 (only for ’16, then ufa)
Garbutt .900
Sekac .925 (only for ’16, then ufa)
So starting with Daley 3.3 and Garbutt .900 (which is 5.9-4.2/1.7 difference), its only 1.125 for ’17. Sharpys 5.9 is now 1.125, which is 4.775m difference.
So Erfhoff 1.275 is a ufa for 17 and Scuderi is 1.125 (instead of 1.3 on Rockford roster) for 17. Which is .200 better for entire 186 days (82 games).
Without fully getting into the prorated caphits, these are the exact amounts each guy caphits are and what they were for us. Based on the total 186 days.
Daley 3.3 for 68 days for a 1.206 caphit
Scuderi 2.250 for 65 days for a .786 caphit
Scuderi 1.125 for 44 days for a .266 caphit
Ehrhoff 1.275 for 45 days for a .302 caphit
Garbutt .900 for 106 days for a .513 caphit
Sekac .925 for 36 days for a N/A caphit