Artem Anisimov signs with Blackhawks for 5 years after Saad deal
The Chicago Blackhawks had their hand forced by restricted free-agent forward Brandon Saad, who was asking for a salary too rich for them and was going to get an offer sheet from someone. So they traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Part of the return was a player they coveted anyway.
Artem Anisimov has 86 goals and 106 assists in 412 regular-season games. He was a strong supporting cast player for the New York Rangers and the Blue Jackets; as coach Todd Richards said when he was acquired in 2012:
“Artem is a very versatile guy, but there’s one part of his game that never changes, and that’s his attention to detail,” Richards said. “Coaches and scouts who see him on a nightly basis will tell you he’s rarely out of position, and he rarely leaves the puck in the wrong spot when he’s coming off the ice.”
If that sounds like the kind of player Chicagi GM Stan Bowman wants on his roster, you’d be right: The Blackhawks signed Anisimov to a 5-year deal, $22.75-million contract, good for a $4.55 million cap hit annually. It kicks in for the 2016-17 season.
From ESPN Chicago:
“He’s a player that we have been trying to acquire for quite some time,” general manager Stan Bowman said Tuesday. “I’ve talked a long time about our desire to find a big centerman. There’s very few of them in the NHL. You just look around the 30 teams, and to be able to get a guy in the prime of his career, 6-foot-4, who can do a little bit of everything, it’s someone we’ve been chasing for a long time, and we were finally able to acquire him.
“I think he fits in very nicely to our team. He’s able to play offensively, as well as a penalty-killing role. He’s done a little bit of everything in his career. And I think for our needs, to know that we’ve got [Jonathan] Toews and Anisimov for years to come, that was a very big part of this.”
The best player in the trade still went to the Blue Jackets. But Anisimov is going to be an important part of the next incarnation of this dynastic team.
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