It’s Hammer time
In this trade, the Arizona Coyotes let go of two young guys in exchange for a legitimate top-four defenceman that is arguably one of the best players on the team today.
The Coyotes sent Connor Murphy and Laurent Dauphin to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for three-time Stanley Cup champion Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Murphy has earned 22 points (four goals, 18 assists) in 108 regular season games with the Blackhawks, while Hjalmarsson has earned 17 points in 109 regular season games with the Coyotes.
The difference is that Hjalmarsson is a far more effective defenceman, blocking an astonishing 250 shots since moving to the desert – having a positive Corsi rating of 50.1% despite starting in his own zone 64.4% of the time.
Dauphin also returned to the Coyotes in the Panik/Duclair trade mentioned earlier in this list, though he was swiftly offloaded to the Predators to help clear up a contract spot – while also landing Emil Pettersson for the Tucson Roadrunners.
Hammer, as he is known, is a truly key piece to the puzzle for the Coyotes and it is easy to see why this deal is on this list.