What comes with developing an elite core in the NHL's salary-cap era? The sacrifice of key pieces a level below your top-end players. Who do you fill those spots with? Guys making near the league minimum.
Wednesday, the Blackhawks traded forwards Brian Bickell and Teuvo Teravainen to the Hurricanes for a second-round pick in 2016 and a third in 2017. It's another necessary trade (same as Brandon Saad last summer) that's hard for Hawks fans to swallow, and it will further thin out of the bottom of their roster while maintaining a generational core at the top.