Chicago Blackhawks: Dylan Sikura trade should work out well

The Chicago Blackhawks have traded Dylan Sikura to the Vegas Golden Knights.

The National Hockey League season finally came to an end last night. One week shy of being a calendar year since the start, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars in game six to win their first Cup in 14 years. Well, a few hours before the game, the Chicago Blackhawks decided to make a trade to prepare for next year. They traded Dylan Sikura to the Vegas Golden Knights to reacquire Brandon Pirri. It is a trade that might make a difference in the short term and look good for the Hawks.

This trade is a bit comical because it is a swap of two players that the Blackhawks kept in the dog house for a long time. Dylan Sikura was never able to stay in the lineup under Jeremy Colliton and some much worse players were getting ice over him. The team isn’t as deep as it was a few years ago so it was always surprising that he wasn’t able to stick to the lineup regularly.

Well, he will get a chance with the Vegas Golden Knights who need some cheap depth in their lineup. Since coming into the league, they have spent a lot of money to remain successful on the ice to complement their pretty good farm system. Sikura will get a chance there to play and he has the tools to take advantage of any opportunity given.

Now, Brandon Pirri was sort of in the same boat with Chicago a few years back but the situation was a little bit different. Pirri was drafted by the Hawks in the second round of the 2011 NHL Draft and stayed with the organization through parts of the 2013-14 season. He had a hard time cracking the lineup a lot of the time because they were such a wagon at that time. The forward depth didn’t leave much room for the kids all the time and they eventually traded him away.

So now Pirri is one of the ten-plus players that Stan Bowman has brought back after letting them go prior. Patrick Sharp, Johnny Oduya, and Andrew Shaw are a few examples but Pirri might be able to be a little bit more worth it. He has a lot of flaws defensively but he has gotten a little better in that area since leaving.

One thing that he is usually very good at is putting the puck in the back of the net. He is a guy who doesn’t necessarily make everyone around him better but he can sure shoot. There is no doubt that if the Hawks put him with someone in the bottom six who can get him the puck, he will score some goals. This isn’t a needle-moving trade for either team but it is one that can give two guys a change of scenery they might need right now.