Chicago Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman made his first trade of the 2020 offseason today, re-acquiring 29-year-old former Blackhawks draft pick Brandon Pirri for Rockford IceHogs forward Dylan Sikura.
Pirri spent the last three seasons in the Vegas Golden Knights organization, but mostly with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. In his first stint with the Blackhawks, he spent the majority of his time in Rockford, putting up 200 points (68 goals, 132 assists) in the process. He was never able to crack the NHL lineup consistently and was traded to Florida on March 2, 2014. His career has been much of the same since leaving the Blackhawks, with a mixture of mostly AHL playing time and some sprinkles of NHL time. His career-high of games played in the NHL is 60 with the New York Rangers in 2016–17, where he scored 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists).
The Blackhawks selected Pirri in the second round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, 59th overall.
The Blackhawks re-acquired Brandon Pirri on Monday afternoon. (Photograph courtesy of CBS Chicago)
The 26-year-old Sikura leaves Chicago with similar failed promises to Pirri years earlier. Sikura was Bowman’s self-proclaimed “trade deadline acquisition” in March of 2018, but was never able to find his game in the NHL. He leaves with just one goal and 13 assists in his Blackhawks career. Sikura’s brother, Tyler, has been a veteran presence in Rockford for the last three seasons.
It remains to be seen where Pirri will play, but conventional wisdom would say that he will be one of the top players in Rockford with recently signed Cody Franson. Pirri can definitely find the back of the net, but his defensive deficiencies are what has kept him from full-time jobs with the Blackhawks, Panthers, Ducks, Rangers and Golden Knights. At 29 and after playing in five other organizations, one would think that has not changed much.