This trade comes on the heels of Michael Hutchinson’s less than stellar last two games, while filling in for Frederik Andersen. Andersen left the Monday night battle against the Florida Panthers during the first intermission, following two severe collisions, and is listed as day to day with a neck injury. Andersen did not travel with the team, who faced the New York Ranger’s last night. Hutchinson has had his fair share of troubles this season. Under Mike Babcock at the beginning of the season, Hutchinson started seven games. In those games, he gave up at least four goals and in five of the games, Hutchinson gave up five or more goals. However, he appeared to be turning over a new leaf.

Going into last night, Hutchinson had won each of his last four starts, including a shut-out against the New York Islanders. He struggled in relief against the Panthers, though, which was a game the Leafs ended up losing 5-3 after surrendering a two-goal lead in the third. After an unsuccessful attempt in yet another game last night, where Hutchinson gave up two goals in six seconds and the game winner was a weak shot that slid five-hole, it was clear a change needed to be made. At around 10:55pm, the trade was announced.

Jack Campbell has been described as a butterfly-style goalie with quick reflexes and good lateral movement. A former first round draft pick of the Dallas Stars, Campbell had an excellent 2018-19 campaign, posting a .928 save percentage in 31 games for the Kings. This season, Campbell has seen his numbers drop, with a .900 on the season. Though there is speculation about whether he can return to the goalie he was in 2018-19, so far in his career, Campbell has been fairly consistent. It is reasonable to believe that he has had a slightly off year, which has not been helped by playing for a struggling LA Kings team. It is also important to note that, as Chris Johnston reported, Campbell is signed for two years following this year at $1.65 million, and can fill the requirement to expose a goalie for the Seattle expansion draft.

Jack Campbell is signed for two years beyond this one at $1.65M and can fill the #leafs requirement to expose a goaltender in the June 2021 Seattle expansion draft.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 6, 2020

The other acquisition in the deal was forward Kyle Clifford, who is on the last year of a five-year deal which had an annual cap hit of $1.6 million. The Kings retained 50% of his salary in the transaction. While Clifford brings so-called “grit” to the team, he is not a liability otherwise.

I see you Kyle Clifford pic.twitter.com/uEN8bWb6qx

— Kyle Cushman (@Kyle_Cush) February 6, 2020

Trevor Moore is a token to the Leafs development program. He signed with the club as an undrafted 21-year-old, and in a short period of time rose from an AHL fourth-liner, to an AHL All-Star to a regular in the NHL lineup. However, when Moore was injured, it became clear that other ex-Marlies, particularly Pierre Engvall, could slot into his position and make an impact. Due to that and the fact that said players could fill the gap at centre with Kerfoot playing the wing, Moore became expendable.

The conditions on the 2021 pick are as follows. The third becomes a second if either Clifford re-signs with the Leafs or if Campbell wins six regular season games and the Leafs qualify for the playoffs.

While Campbell is clearly not a long-term solution if Andersen is out for a substantial period of time, hopefully he can be an effective “band-aid” and eventually, an effective backup who can take part of the load off of Andersen’s shoulders.

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7:30pm CST/5:30pm PST
United Center
TV/Radio: NHL Network, NBCSCH, FS-W/WGN

PROJECTED STARTERS

Chicago – Corey Crawford (4-6-0 W/L, SV%: 0.911 GAA: 2.76)
Los Angeles – Peter Budaj (0-1-0 W/L, SV%: 0.833 GAA: 5.50)

TEAM STATISTICS

Power Play
Chicago (13.8%, 28th)
Los Angeles (14.3, T-26th)

Penalty Kill
Chicago (74.6%, 26th)
Los Angeles (78.4%, 19th)

Shorts for/against
Chicago (32.5, T-9th, 33.1, 24th)
Los Angeles (27.6, 29th, 30.2, 9th)

Shooting %
Chicago (8.4%, 26th)
Los Angeles (7.4%, 30th)

Faceoff %
Chicago (49.9%, T-17^th)
Los Angeles (52.3%, 4^th)

Avg. height/weight
Chicago 6’1”, 195lbs
Los Angeles 6’1” 206lbs

PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS

Chicago Blackhawks

Nick Schmaltz–Jonathan Toews–Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat–David Kampf–Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad–Artem Anisimov–John Hayden
Chris Kunitz–Marcus Kruger–Andreas Martinsen
Duncan Keith–Brent Seabrook
Erik Gustafsson–Henri Jokiharju
Brandon Manning–Gustav Forsling

Los Angeles Kings

Alex Iafallo–Anze Kopitar–Dustin Brown
Ilya Kovalchuk–Jeff Carter–Tyler Toffoli
Carl Hagelin–Michael Amadio–Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford–Adrian Kempe–Nate Thompson
Derek Forbort–Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin–Alec Martinez
Dion Phaneuf–Oscar Fantenberg

Analysis

Chicago ended an eight-game losing streak, shutting out the Blues on Wednesday, and look to start a winning streak against a struggling Kings team.

Willie Desjardins, hired as head coach after the firing of John Stevens, has the Kings coming in on a three-game losing streak. Los Angeles managed a measly two goals in those three losses.

The offensive hindered Kings are led by forward Ilya Kovalchuk, signed this summer after a stint in the KHL, with five goals and fourteen points.

Do not adjust your televisions, that was a power play goal on Wednesday. Blues’ defenseman Jay Bouwmeester did kick the puck into his own net, but they all count the same for the Hawks. Brent Seabrook was credited with his third goal of the season, and all things considered, the Hawks’ power play will take it.

Corey Crawford is expected in net tonight. Crawford played excellent in his first shutout of the season. Los Angeles will really on goalie Peter Budaj tonight, both Jonathan Quick and Jack Campbell are out with injuries, and stopped only 15 of the 19 shots he faced on Tuesday.

Comment below in our live game thread tonight!

And look for the internet’s most robust recap of the game tomorrow morning on the-rink.com. 

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