Brandon Manning Is No Longer the Blackhawks' Problem

Moments ago, the Blackhawks announced a trade involving defensemen Brandon Manning and Robin Norell. Congratulations Blackhawks' fans, Brandon Manning is no longer our problem! Thank God!

TRADE ALERT: The #Blackhawks have acquired forward Drake Caggiula (AAV of $1,500,000) and defenseman Jason Garrison (AAV of $650,000) from Edmonton in exchange for defensemen Brandon Manning and Robin Norell. pic.twitter.com/3AjZ27z0ck

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) December 30, 2018

There's not much to this trade besides it mainly being a salary dump. StanBo righted his wrong with this one and was able to unload Brandon Manning's obnoxiously bad contract. I honestly feel bad for the Edmonton Oilers, because they did not improve at all with this trade. Ladies and gentlemen, there may actually be a worse GM in the NHL than Stan Bowman and his name is Peter Chiarelli.

Blackhawks Add Roster Depth

Let's take a closer look at who the Blackhawks acquired from the Edmonton Oilers. Drake Caggiula is a small-bodied forward who has a bit of upside. Caggiula had a respectable NCAA career in which he played on a line with former Blackhawks' forward, Nick Schmaltz, and Brock Boeser of the Vancouver Canucks.

Before entering the #NHL, #Blackhawks new forward Drake Caggiula led North Dakota to a Div I title and was named the most outstanding player at the Frozen Four. He was courted by several teams as a free agent.13 goals in 67 games last season, 27 in 156 for his career.

— Chris Wescott (@TheChrisWescott) December 30, 2018

Thus far in Caggiula's NHL career, things haven't played out like he had hoped. Then again, playing in Edmonton usually isn't a breeding ground for success. Although, all of Caggiula's struggles cannot be pinned on him. Edmonton has had a revolving door at head coach lately and their upper management isn't exactly anything to write home about. Hence the lopsided trade in the Blackhawks' favor. Maybe a change of scenery will do Caggiula some good. Here's a closer look at Drake Caggiula's body of work. Since Drake Caggiula doesn't have many highlights with the Edmonton Oilers, here's an impressive little highlight reel of his career before the NHL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLZzsZsGOFw The Blackhawks also acquired defenseman Jason Garrison in today's trade. Garrison has had a relatively productive NHL career until the past couple of seasons. Jason Garrison is currently 34 years old and has not seen much ice time in the past two seasons. Last season with the Vegas Golden Knights, Garrison only laced up his skates eight times. This season, Garrison played a total of 17 games, but hasn't had much of an impact. Here are Jason Garrison's career stats in the NHL:

                                           Scor        Goal     Assi         Shot                                            Ice
Season    Age     Tm  Lg  GP  G   A PTS +/- PIM EV PP SH GW EV PP SH   S  S%  TSA   TOI  ATOI FOW FOL  FO% BLK HIT  TK  GV Awards
2008-09    24    FLA NHL   1  0   0   0   0   0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0       0    2    12 11:57   0        0   1   1   0          0
2009-10    25    FLA NHL  39  2   6   8   5  23  2  0  0  0  5  1  0  24 8.3   54   590 15:08   0        0  52  37   4         11
2010-11    26    FLA NHL  73  5  13  18  -2  26  5  0  0  3 10  3  0 116 4.3  264  1627 22:18   0        0 127 136  19         41
2011-12    27    FLA NHL  77 16  17  33   6  32  7  9  0  3 13  3  1 168 9.5  350  1825 23:42   1   1 50.0 124 127  20         30
2012-13    28    VAN NHL  47  8   8  16  18  28  5  3  0  2  5  3  0  94 8.5  225  1019 21:41   0        0  58  36  16  24  AS-24
2013-14    29    VAN NHL  81  7  26  33  -5  57  2  4  1  1 13 11  2 181 3.9  379  1693 20:54   0        0 128  58  30         44
2014-15    30    TBL NHL  70  4  26  30  27  19  3  1  0  3 16 10  0 111 3.6  236  1401 20:01   0        0  94  46  21  29  AS-27
2015-16    31    TBL NHL  72  5   6  11  -4  18  5  0  0  1  6  0  0  99 5.1  200  1329 18:28   0        0 105  88  15         45
2016-17    32    TBL NHL  70  1   8   9  -8  14  1  0  0  0  8  0  0  96 1.0  193  1300 18:34   0        0  91  93   8         33
2017-18    33    VEG NHL   8  0   1   1  -2   4  0  0  0  0  1  0  0   7 0.0   15   153 19:04   0        0  23   7   3          7
2018-19    34    EDM NHL  17  1   0   1   1   8  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  16 6.3   31   216 12:42   0        0  23  13   2          5
4 yrs            FLA NHL 190 23  36  59   9  81 14  9  0  6 28  7  1 308 7.5  670  4054 21:20   1   1 50.0 304 301  43         82
3 yrs            TBL NHL 212 10  40  50  15  51  9  1  0  4 30 10  0 306 3.3  629  4030 19:00   0        0 290 227  44        107
2 yrs            VAN NHL 128 15  34  49  13  85  7  7  1  3 18 14  2 275 5.5  604  2712 21:11   0        0 186  94  46         68
1 yr             VEG NHL   8  0   1   1  -2   4  0  0  0  0  1  0  0   7 0.0   15   153 19:04   0        0  23   7   3          7
1 yr             EDM NHL  17  1   0   1   1   8  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  16 6.3   31   216 12:42   0        0  23  13   2          5
Career        11 yrs NHL 555 49 111 160  36 229 30 18  1 13 77 31  3 912 5.4 1949 11165 20:07   1   1 50.0 826 642 138        269

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table The latest news on Jason Garrison is that he will most likely be sent straight to Rockford. I just hope he doesn’t take any playing time away from the young, developing defensemen currently in Rockford.

Source tells me newly acquired defenseman Jason Garrison will “most likely” end up in Rockford.

— Jay Zawaski (@JayZawaski670) December 30, 2018

Final Thoughts on the Brandon Manning Trade

Overall, it was a great deal for the Blackhawks. Not only was StanBo able to unload Brandon Manning and that joke of a contract, but he also got a player with some upside in return with Drake Caggiula. Maybe we will see Caggiula turn things around in Chicago, similar to what Dylan Strome has done. Only time will tell just how good this trade is, but in the meantime, I am happy to see that Brandon Manning is somebody else's headache now. For more Blackhawks news and updates, follow the author @Certified_TonyG on Twitter.