The Blackhawks traded forward Brandon Saad and left-handed defenseman Dennis Gilbert to the Avalanche for left-handed defensemen Nikita Zadorov and Anton Lindholm on Saturday.
Chicago retained $1 million of Saad’s $6 million salary cap hit, and Zadorov signed his qualifying offer of $3.2 million that runs through the 2020-21 season.
The news first appeared on Twitter Saturday evening when Dan Milstein, Zadorov’s agent, shared the news on Twitter that his client was traded to Chicago.
The 27-year-old Saad is in the final year of the 6-year, $36 million contract he signed in July 2015 shortly after being traded from Chicago to Columbus in the deal that brought Artem Anisimov to the Blackhawks.