Morin traded to Columbus

photo from zimbio.com

Earlier today, Jeremy Morin was traded to Columbus in return for defenceman Tim Erixon.

Jeremy Morin had no points in fifteen games with the Blackhawks this season. Erixon has six points in nineteen with Columbus. He will report directly to Chicago

Chicago's third defensive pairing has been shuffled around half a dozen times since the injury to Trevor van Riemsdyk. It seems like Quenneville can't decide on which pairing works best, calling up a couple of Rockford players to fill in before settling on Klas Dahlbeck and Michal Rozsival for the last few games. With Erixon reporting directly to the Blackhawks, it's likely that that will change, with Dahlbeck or David Rundblad being sent to Rockford, and Erixon slotting in as the sixth or seventh defenceman.

As for Morin, this is a good trade for him. He was never going to get the playing time he needed to fully develop into a good player in Chicago; they're too deep at the wing, and he's just not a fourth line player. He's a scorer, not a checker or a possession guy, and short of another huge injury to one of the top six wingers, he was never going to get that opportunity with the Blackhawks. He's going to go on and be a ten to fifteen goal scorer for another team, like Brandon Pirri, or Jimmy Hayes, or potentially Kevin Hayes. The Blackhawks organisation is deep, and this is just another case of that being a problem for developing their young players, but I think Morin could easily have a hugely successful season with the Blue Jackets. He probably deserves it, after five seasons of bouncing up and down from Rockford to Chicago.