The Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs have exchanged a pair of 24-year-old wingers who may be in need of a change of scenery. To Chicago goes Richard Panik. In exchange LW Jeremy Morin heads to Toronto.
Panik, a 2nd round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009, played 76 games for the Leafs last year, scoring 11 goals and 17 points. He looked like he might be developing into a third line winger the team could use or continue to develop and trade. He posted a score-adjusted CF%Rel of 1.1% on a lless than middling Leafs squad last year.
Yet, he’s spent the entire season playing with the Toronto Marlies. In AHL Toronto, he’s put up nine goals and 25 points in 33 games this season, including the overtime winner on Sunday before the trade was announced.
Coach Quenneville said Sunday night that they will keep Panik on the ‘Hawks roster.
On the other end of this trade is Morin, a 2009 2nd round draft pick of the Atlanta Thrashers. He grabbed games with the Blackhawks in every season since the 2010-11 season up until this year.
Chicago wound up trading him to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Tim Erixon last season, but was brought back to Chicago as a part of the summer’s Brandon Saad trade.
Morin played 43 games last season with a score-adjusted CF% of 2.8%. The prior year he posted a 9.7% mark in a small 26-game sample.
Morin hasn’t found his way into the NHL this season, spending the whole year with the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. There, he’s posted a team leading 22 points (9-13-22) in 28 games.
Morin will report immediately to the Marlies of the AHL, the team relayed in their announcement.
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