I think that the Thorton trade is sort of going to become the norm in hockeywith the salary cap. Alot of GMs are going decided its better to spend a little money everywhere then locking it up in a couple of positions. The strength for the Ducks is that the contract is only 3yrs. more after this, meaning they can either try and work out a longer deal if things work out well, or trade him in the last year to a team looking to dump salary.
Boston needs alot of players to help themselves out, so this trade works for them as well.
As for the Blackhawks looks like they're going to win tonight. Bell has played pretty well thus far, but I still think he really needs to get stronger.