With all eyes on prospect camp this week, the Blackhawks announced a trade with the Ottawa Senators. Chicago acquired center Zack Smith from Ottawa for center Artem Anisimov.
Smith is a 31-year-old, 6-foot-2, 210-pound left-handed center/left wing who was drafted by the Senators in the third round (79th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He is coming off a season where he played 70 games and had 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists) in primarily a defensive role. Smith has also been an alternate captain for Ottawa each of the last two seasons. He has two years remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $3.25 million, which gives the Blackhawks a savings of $1.3 million on the salary cap.
In 612 NHL games, Smith has scored 94 goals and tallied 99 assists for 193 points.
Anisimov was acquired by the Blackhawks June 30, 2015 with Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin, Corey Tropp and a 2016 fourth round draft pick (Lucas Carlsson). Anisimov enjoyed most of his success between Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin, but seemed to get lost in the lineup when not playing with elite talent on his wings.