Making sense of the Darling trade.

Scott Darling was just recently traded to the Hurricanes from the Blackhawks roster in exchange for a 3rd round pick in 2017. Following the initial shock for such little return in exchange of a very skilled and promising goalie, a little analysis is in order. 

First, the stats. Scott Darling was acting as backup goalie this season, playing 32 games in the process. He had a 2.38 GAA and a very decent .924 save percentage. In comparison, Corey Crawford had a 2.55 GAA and a .918 save percentage in 55 games. Even if the stats are slightly in Darling's advantage, let's say it's a tie. 

On the contract side of things, Darling was in the last year of a 2 years, 1,175M$ deal. He was set to become UFA this summer but was still legally under contract until then. Crawford is completing the 3rd of his 6 years deal valued at 36 Millions. His 6M$ cap hit is obviously huge compared to Darling. 

It would be surprising to see Crawford being traded with such a contract. With the expansion draft set in just a few months, teams can protect only one goalie. Of course, the Hawks chose to protect Crawford. If they didn't trade Darling, he would be unprotected and could have been drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights for nothing in exchange. However, the team would have needed to sign a new contract with him for that to happen. UFA are by definition unprotected, and Darling would not have signed a new backup goalie contract in Chicago. Stan Bowman basically pulled a 3rd rounder out of thin air. 

On the Canes side of things, they earn the right to discuss a contract with Darling before July 1st. It was well known Darling was looking for a starting position somewhere and it would have been very surprising to see him sign a new contract with the Hawks to be the backup to Crawford. 

However, the Canes already own Eddy Lack and Cam Ward for another year. They now have three goalies in the roster and can only protect one. It was expected Cam Ward would have been the chosen one, so Eddy Lack would be on the block. However, if the team sign a deal with Darling, he may become the Canes top goalie and both Lack and Ward would be exposed. Both guys are aging and Darling is only 28, so it would make sense. 

The last option would be to see the Hurricanes sign Darling to a decent contract and then trade him or Lack for something bigger in exchange. They would have then traded a 3rd rounder for something bigger in the end, but it's very unlikely. 

In the end, the real winner is Bowman, who traded an UFA who wouldn't stay in Chicago anyways in exchange for a 3rd round pick in a quality draft. 

Overall, it's hard to see beloved Scott Darling be gone so suddenly.