I remember where I was. I was in my room about to take a nap. It was about 4:10 in the afternoon and I was exhausted because I had spent the whole day helping my Dad and Grandpa work on building an addition to our backyard deck. My Mom and Dad were about to leave to buy more parts when all of a sudden my Dad yelled my name. “MIKE, DID YOU HEAR THAT??” he yelled. I was confused. I thought something was happening outside and asked what was going on. He responded, “Saad got traded to Columbus!” Those words hit me like a ton of bricks. “WHAT??????” I loudly exclaimed. I immediately went on Twitter to discover the news was true, one of my favorite players on the Chicago Blackhawks, Brandon Saad, had just been traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets. I immediately went on a verbal rampage, cursing the Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman, like I’m sure a lot of Blackhawks fans did during that moment. How can he trade a future superstar who, at only 22 years old, has helped the Blackhawks win two Stanley Cup Championships?? Bowman himself said that one of the biggest priorities of the offseason was to resign Saad to a new contract. And now he’s gone. After a few more curse words, I decided to calm down and look at what the Hawks got in return. The Hawks received four players, Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin, Corey Tropp, and a 2016 4th round draft pick from Columbus in exchange for Saad and two prospects, Michael Paliotta and Alex Broadhurst. This made me feel a little better. Anisimov is a fine center, and I have heard some really good things about Dano, who was one of Columbus’ top prospects, and Morin used to play for the Hawks. Still, I was upset that Saad was gone and thought that the trade itself was unnecessary. Then I heard the reason for the trade.

According to Bowman, Saad was asking for a new contract that lasted six years and paid him up to $6-6.5 million annually. Due the salary cap restrictions, there was no way the Hawks could give him that kind of a contract. When it became apparent that contract talks between Saad and the Hawks wouldn’t go any further and Saad would sign somewhere else the next day when NHL free agency began, the Hawks traded him. Since Saad was a restricted free agent, if he had signed somewhere else the Hawks would’ve received a first, second, and third round selection in next years NHL Draft from Columbus as compensation. Even though that sounds like a lot of picks, what the Hawks got in return by trading Saad instead is way better because they received multiple players who can immediately contribute when the season starts in October. They received an established NHL center in Anisimov, two intriguing prospects in Dano and Tropp, and a familiar face in Morin, to go along with a draft pick. That’s way better than three draft picks. A couple days later Saad signed a 6 year contract that will pay him $6 million annually, which confirmed what Bowman said was the truth. I took back everything bad I said about Bowman, and so should you.

The NHL, just like every other professional sports league, is a business. Due to the salary cap, which limits how much money a team can pay its players, teams like the Blackhawks have to trade players if they can’t afford them, even if they are fan favorites. Some fans are irrational and will condemn Bowman just because he traded Saad and they liked Saad. It doesn’t matter to them what the Hawks got in return. Hawks fans need to realize that Bowman makes these kinds of moves to help the franchise in the long run. Instead of criticizing Bowman, more Hawks fans should praise him for keeping the core of the team together and winning multiple championships in the tough salary cap era, which makes winning multiple championships in a small period of time nearly impossible. Hawks fans need to calm down.