Dismantling a Champion

Not unexpected due to salary cap restrictions but still, painful to watch.

• There's a price for winning and having players who perform exceptionally well. For Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman, that means clearing salary-cap room for the roughly $4 million in bonus overages.

  [...] Bowman traded restricted free agent Andrew Ladd to the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday -- the opening day of free agency -- for defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy and a second-round pick in 2011 and watched unrestricted free agent and popular agitator Adam Burish sign with the Dallas Stars.

  The trade came less than 24 hours after Bowman sent Kris Versteeg to the Toronto Maple Leafs and a week after he traded Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel and Ben Eager to the Thrashers and Colin Fraser to the Edmonton Oilers.

Hopefully, it isn't another 49 years for the next Stanley Cup.