Blackhawks president: Shaw trade 'a tough one for a lot of reasons'

The sting of the Andrew Shaw trade was felt all the way at the top of the Chicago Blackhawks organization.

"That was a tough one for a lot of reasons," club president John McDonough told David Hugh of the Chicago Tribune. "He's a wonderful young man."

And he's not the only Windy City resident to share that sentiment.

"From the end of the season on, I had workers with hard hats screaming to me from the third floor, 'Don't trade (Andrew) Shaw,'" McDonough said. "Wherever you went, people that I would run into said the same thing.

"He had an organic grittiness that really struck a nerve with Chicagoans, maybe more than any athlete I've been associated with. He really resonated with everybody. Not the most skilled player but the classic overachiever. He got under people's skin. He represented what people wanted this franchise to embody."

Ultimately, Shaw was dealt to the Montreal Canadiens for a pair of second-round draft picks, a move made necessary by Chicago's salary cap crunch.

Shaw signed a six-year, $23.4-million deal with the Canadiens shortly after being traded, while the Blackhawks signed Jordin Tootoo to a one-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 in an attempt to replace the lost grit.