The Chicago Blackhawks made another move Thursday to help alleviate the salary-cap crunch they face for the upcoming season, trading forward Marty Reasoner to the Florida Panthers for forward Jeff Taffe.
Reasoner, 33, played for Atlanta this past season, scoring 4 goals and finishing with 17 points in 80 games. He was obtained last month as part of the package sent to Chicago in a trade that netted Atlanta Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and prospect Akim Aliu.
He is due $1.2 million this season, the final year of his deal.
Taffe, 29, spent most of the past season in the American Hockey League. He did, however, play 21 games for the Florida Panthers, scoring a goal and adding an assist.
The salary savings, likely to be a little less than $1 million, will help Chicago get under the salary cap, which is $59.4 for the 2010-11 season.
Chicago still needs to sign restricted free agent Antti Niemi, who has an arbitration hearing next week. So, it appears that Chicago GM Stan Bowman will have to make even more moves after he gets his starting goalie under contract.