This past offseason, the Chicago Blackhawks had to once again purge some young talent from their roster to get underneath the NHL salary cap. The Blackhawks traded away Teuvo Teravainen and Bryan Bickell to Carolina in a straight salary dump.
The Teravainen/Bickell trade was made to free up money to potentially re-sign Andrew Shaw. Shaw and his agent would price him out of the Blackhawks’ price range.
Shaw was then sent to the Montreal Canadiens for draft picks. It was a big blow to the team at the time of the trade.