Cam Barker Gone: Blackhawks Make a Trade!

The Cam Barker Era is OVER!

The Blackhawks traded Barker to Minnesota for defenseman Kim Johnsson and the Wild’s top pick in the 2009 draft, Nick Leddy.

Leddy is the prize in the deal, a solid young defenseman prospect taken 16th overall in 2009, and was described  this way by Hockey’s Future: “You’d be hard pressed to find a better, more complete defenseman playing in the Minnesota state high school Class A/AA league this season than the Eden Prairie native. Leddy is also one of the early favorites for this year’s Mr. Hockey Award, which recognizes the top high school player from the state of Minnesota.”

Listed at 5’11 and 185 pounds, Leddy joins a deep group of Hawks prospects on the blue line with Dylan Olsen and Shawn LaLonde. He was the third-ranked prospect in the Wild organization. Hockey’s Future also says

The Hawks finally unloading Barker, who has disappointed throughout this year, allows the team to slide a veteran, minutes-eating blue liner into his slot on the third defensive group for the rest of this season. Barker had 14 points (4 G, 10 A) and was +7 for the Hawks this year, averaging just 13:06 on ice this season.

Barker has two years left on the contract extension he received before this season with a cap number over $3 million.

Update: From Stan Bowman when he met the media.

Re: Johnsson: “He’s been in the playoffs, he’s been in the Olympics… he’s been in high-pressure situations before.” Johnsson played for Sweden in the 2002 Olympics.

Re: Leddy: “He was a big part of the deal… We’ve been very high on him since last year when we were trying to trade up in the draft to get him, actually… His speed is something that’s been talked about quite a bit… He had to be in the mix for this to work.”