The Blackhawks Commit To The Trading Deadline

The NHL trade deadline is today, and already the Blackhawks have been busy. It was announced a little while ago that the team had completed a trade and sent Tuomu Ruutu to the Carolina Hurricanes for Adam Ladd.

Ladd, 23, is 6-2 and 201 pounds. He was Carolina's first-round pick and the fourth overall in the 2004 entry draft.

‘‘Andrew Ladd is a very good young forward who won a Stanley Cup with Carolina as a 20-year old,'' Hawks general manager Dale Tallon said. ‘‘We acquired a very good young player in Andrew Ladd and in doing so had to give up good young player in Tuomo Ruutu.''

Ladd has nine goals and nine assists in 43 games this season.

Ladd's production isn't exactly stellar, but it's actually better than Ruttu's. In 60 games this season, the former 1st-round pick has only managed 6 goals and 15 assists. Not exactly the Peter Forsberg like numbers the Blackhawks told us to expect when they drafted Ruutu in 2001.

Ruutu probably won't be the only Hawk on the move today, as the team sent out an email on Monday night listing all the players they're willing to trade. Ruutu was on that list, along with Nikolai Khabibulin, Martin Havlat, Robert Lang, Martin Lapointe, Yanic Perreault, Andrei Zyuzin and Rene Bourque.

The bad news for the Hawks is that the big name they were pursuing, Tampa's Dave Richards, has already been traded to Dallas in a five-player deal.

The Hawks are also talking to Pittsburgh about Jordan Staal.

What I'm yet to figure out is whether the Blackhawks are making these moves in hopes of making a playoff run, or if they're thinking next season.

UPDATE: The Blackhawks have also shipped Martin LaPointe to Ottawa for a 6th round draft pick.