The Chicago Blackhawks took the best rental forward off the market Thursday, acquiring Andrew Ladd from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for Marko Dano, a first-round draft pick, and a conditional third round pick.

The move came just hours after the Blackhawks were connected to the Vancouver Canucks in a budding deal that would include Radim Vrbata and Dan Hamhuis in exchange for a first-round selection and a high-end prospect – Ville Pokka seemed the most likely candidate.

Taking Ladd off the market has long-reaching consequences into the market, but most especially for the Canucks. Let’s take a look at the impact of this deal, on the other side of the jump.

If the Blackhawks are going to go forward with their pursuit of Vrbata and Hamhuis, it’s going to require a lot of creativity on both sides to make it work. At the very least, it will require the Canucks to not only retain salary but take on a bad contract or two in the process. 

Using the Armchair GM tool on www.CapFriendly.com, I was able to make the deal work and keep both teams at or above the cap. It starts with the Canucks retaining 50% of the remaining salary on both Vrbata and Hamhuis’ contracts. Afterwards, they will have to take on Jay Harrison and Rob Scuderi’s contracts. At that point, the Blackhawks have $125,000 in cap space. 

Alternatively, they can take Bryan Bickell off the Blackhawks hands. The problem being they would have to carry his $4-million tab going into next season. That’s a hefty ask for a team that’s trying to return to relevance.

It’s more likely that they narrow down their search to just Hamhuis. If that’s the case, the price likely starts with Pokka. That probably isn’t enough and certainly shouldn’t be enough. Especially if the Canucks have to a) retain salary and b) take back a bad contract. After the Ladd trade, the Blackhawks are out of picks in the first and second round of this year’s draft.

The dream of getting a first for Vrbata died with the Ladd deal. Frankly, it might have ended a few months ago anyways. It’s more likely that Vrbata can land a blue chip prospect at this stage. Wonder where there’s a fit though. The Coyotes were linked to Vrbata earlier this week, but I can’t imagine them surrendering futures for what might amount to 45-days of Vrbata. Think that’s more of an off-season play. The Blues make sense. Wonder what they’re willing to part with for the trouble.