from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

This was the player the Chicago Blackhawks figured they’d be getting when they gave up a first-round pick and a prospect before the trade deadline.

Antoine Vermette struggled mightily after being dealt to the Blackhawks, even getting scratched three times earlier in these playoffs. But with three game-winning goals in the two most important rounds of the playoffs, the gamble will have been well worth it for the Blackhawks.

"He's got better every game," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said after Saturday night’s 2-1 win put his team on the brink of a third Cup in six years. "I thought he had a great game tonight. Very timely goal. Big faceoff wins. Both zones tonight. Lot of wins. Positionally aware. Battled."

It’s the player the Arizona Coyotes knew for years. They were probably more surprised than anyone when Vermette looked so lost in his early weeks in Chicago. And you know that Quenneville would have got quite the scouting report from his old Hartford Whalers teammate and friend Dave Tippett, who loved coaching Vermette for the past four seasons in Arizona.

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