Bladerunners - Shadowmen Trade

SHADOWMEN get: Skille-L CHI (P2), Kraijcek-D VAN (P4)

BLADERUNNERS get: L.Eriksson-L DAL (P2), Roy-C BUF (RFA)

I have to hand it to Bob on this one, I think, but it's intriguing all round, for a summer deal.

Skille is one of the Chicago Six (Skille, Toewes, Kane, Barker, Bolland, and Richmond), a group of up and coming Blackhawk prospects (and if they develop I might add either Aliu or Makarov to that list for nice Chicago Seven reference). He's a power forward with goal scoring ability, and he'll get his chance to feed on minutes as the Hawks rebuild from within. Kraijcek is a puck moving defenseman who never found a home in Florida and seems to struggle to stay in the lineup in Vancouver. He could finally break through this year and have a Nolan Baumgartner type season, or he could continue as a 'tweener' - too good for the AHL, just not quite good enough for the NHL.

On the flip side, Brian picks up Louis Ericksson, a big soft handed winger with great speed, but little playmaking ability, and (from what I've seen) limited hockey sense. Dallas (like Chicago) needs some forwards to develop from within, but unlike Chicago, pretty much all they have on the vine is Ericksson. Roy is also intriguing, if only because the two pivot spots on the roster ahead of him are now wide open thanks to big money defections. Still, Roy has had so many kicks at the Buffalo roster, one wonders if he'll ever be strong enough to carry the scoring load of a 1st or 2nd liner.

So, if we call the value of Kraijcek and Roy roughly even (Roy is the better player, but Kraijcek has the easier position to be a relevant contributor) than it comes down to the quality of the prospect P2, and in this case, I think it's clearly Skille.