As ChicagoBlackhawks.com reports tonight:
Blackhawks General Manager Dale Tallon announced today that the Blackhawks have obtained left wing Ben Eager from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenseman Jim Vandermeer.
“We wanted a high energy player for our fourth line and Ben Eager is that kind of player,” Tallon said. “He is just 23 years old, he can skate and he is a very gritty player.”
Eager stands at 6’3″ tall and weighs 225 pounds and is in his third season in the NHL. He has appeared in a total of 111 games for the Flyers with nine goals and ten assists for 19 points and 313 penalty minutes. In 23 games with the Flyers this season, Eager has racked up 62 penalty minutes. Eager was originally drafted with the 23rd overall choice in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Phoenix Coyotes.
Well, this doesn’t seem like a very big deal to me. I suppose I am satisfied with it, as Vandermeer really didn’t drop the gloves any more, so he didn’t fill the enforcer role too well, and his defense left something to be desired on most nights.
It sounds like Eager will be slotted on the 3rd-4th line, and will be a physical guy with some size, but I can’t help but be discouraged by the fact that he has 0 points in 23 games with Philadelphia on the year and 19 points in 111 career games. I think Dale just wanted to make a little shake-up in the lineup, but I was hoping for something a little more high-impact than this deal. We’ll see how it pans out, but I don’t see Eager making much of a difference with this team.