The Chicago Blackhawks made a couple of moves at the 2020 trade deadline, including sending defenseman Erik Gustafsson to the Calgary Flames for a 2020 3^rd round pick, and dealing goaltender Robin Lehner to the Vegas Golden Knights for Malcolm Subban, prospect Slava Demin, and Pittsburgh’s 2^nd round pick in the 2020 NHL draft.

It was a three-way trade between the Chicago Blackhawks, Vegas Golden Knights, and Toronto Maple Leafs sent Lehner to Toronto ($2,500,000 retained) and a 5^th round pick from Vegas. Toronto then flipped Lehner to Vegas ($1,100,000 retained) and signing rights to Martins Dzierkals. Malcolm Subban, rights to Slava Demin, and Pittsburgh’s 2020 2^nd round pick headed back to Chicago. Chicago has its own 1^st, Pittsburgh’s 2^nd, their own 3^rd, and Calgary’s 3^rd from the Gustafsson trade. They don’t have their own 2^nd round pick because they dealt it in an offseason trade to re-acquire Andrew Shaw.

Erik Gustafsson is a 27-year old defenseman making $1.2 million and is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1^st. In the six seasons of data we have on him, he has a +0.12 career AB score. However, he is coming off the worst individual AB season of his career last season with a -4.41, and three of his last four seasons have been negative individually. In 59 games with the Blackhawks, Gustafsson scored 6 goals and registered 20 assists for 26 points. So far in Calgary, he has played 7 games, in which he has registered 3 assists for 3 points. For a defenseman, he has a solid penalty taken/drawn ratio during his time with both teams, as the ratio was 9:5 in Chicago and is 1:0 in Calgary. Gustafsson doesn’t have equally impressive giveaway/takeaway ratios in either city however, as it was 53:21 in Chicago, and currently is 5:0 in Calgary. He has a -9 +/- number on the season as well. Under 2nd-year head coach Jeremy Colliton, Gustafsson was averaging about 30 seconds more ice time than his previous career average of 19:59 per night. However, in Calgary under Geoff Ward, he is playing almost two fewer minutes than he was in Chicago at 18:01.

Robin Lehner has been playing excellent hockey over the past couple of seasons. In 2018-19 with the Islanders, he had a .930 save percentage with a 25-13-5 record in 46 games played. He won the Bill Masterton Trophy given to the player that best exemplifies dedication, sportsmanship, and commitment to hockey, and finished in 3^rd place in the Vezina Trophy race that season. With Chicago this season, Lehner had a 16-10-5 record in 33 games played, with a .918 save percentage. In three games with Vegas so far, he has a .940 save percentage, a 3-0 record, and a shutout. Much more to come, as the Hawks continue to attempt to make an improbable playoff run sitting eight points out of the 2^nd wildcard spot in the Western Conference.