In the midst of the Chicago Blackhawks and Vegas Golden Knights game the Blackhawks would consummate a trade with the Florida Panthers that would see forward Aleksi Saarela sent to Florida for defenseman Ian McCoshen. When first word of the deal first broke during the 3rd period of the Golden Knights/Blackhawks game many were left scratching their head as Saarela seemed a nice piece that had been acquired with Calvin de Haan from the Carolina Hurricanes.
After a strong training camp, Saarela had struggled in his first few games with the Rockford Ice Hogs (only 1 assist in five games) but that could be indicative of the overall performance of Rockford’s early season struggles.