Given their salary cap situation it was simply a matter of when, and not if, the Chicago Blackhawks were going to trade veteran forward Patrick Sharp this offseason.

On Friday night they finally did it.

The Blackhawks sent Sharp and defenseman Stephen Johns to the Dallas Stars in exchange for defenseman Trevor Daley and forward Ryan Garbutt.

Sharp, 33, still has two years remaining on his current contract that pays him an average of $5.9 million per season. Together, Daley and Garbutt will count $5.1 million against the cap over the next two seasons, but ESPN's Craig Custance reports that the Stars will retain half of Garbutt's remaining contract. When you factor in the $800,000 Johns would have made on the NHL roster, the cap savings come out to around $2.5 million for the Blackhawks.

http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/eye-on-...y-ryan-garbutt