It's no secret Toews was never happy the Hawks traded Saad to begin with.....and by most any standard, Saad was (and is) a legitimate player that the Hawks in general never wanted give up to begin with (and especially for cap management reasons).
Meanwhile, I'm 100% convince Torts never warmed to Saad in that year he played in Columbus, and was probably prepared to trade him for most any kind of decent return. Little did anyone realize that could have been somebody like Panarin, who showed every indication of being a Tarasenko-level sniper in his first 2 years in the League (and who I realize many thought was as much a product of playing with Kane as anything else).
Even though Saad remains a darned good player, I seriously doubt this is a trade the Hawks would make again, no matter how Toews and Kane feel/felt. Since the deal, I always wondered if Panarin might have quietly had some troubles in the room with Toews and/or Kane.
