NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Blackhawks have traded veteran defenseman Jake McCabe and center Sam Laffery to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Blackhawks are retaining 50 percent of McCabe’s cap hit.
The Blackhawks receive forwards Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev, a 2025 conditional first-round pick and a 2026 second-round pick from the Toronto. Chicago is also sending a 2024 conditional fifth-round pick and 2025 conditional fifth-round pick to the Leafs.
The 2025 first-round pick the Blackhawks acquired is top-ten protected; it would slide to 2026 if the Leafs are in the top ten picks in 2025.
Anderson, 24, has appeared14 games with the Maple Leafs this season with three points (two goals, one assist). He’s also posted 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) in 30 games with the Toronto Marlies. He’s a restricted free agent after this season.
Originally a third-round pick (No. 73 overall) by New Jersey in 2016, Anderson is a right wing listed at 6-0 and 207 pounds.
Gogolev, 23, has one more year remaining on his current contract with a $834,167 cap hit. A left wing listed at 6-1 and 197 pounds, Gogolev had 48 points (21 goals, 27 assists) in 33 games in the ECHL this season. He was not drafted.
McCabe, 29, signed a four-year, $16 million deal with the Blackhawks in 2021 with hopes that he would become part of a quick turn-around by then-GM Stan Bowman. Now we all know the 2021-22 season turned into an absolute debacle in every possible way and his hopes of playing for a competitor in Chicago during this contract appear to be long odds. So he’s moving on.
The hard part of this trade is McCabe has been the Blackhawks’ best defenseman this year. He’s been a good leader on the ice, playing an old-school position well. His season started a little late because of summer back surgery, but he’s been solid since joining the team.
McCabe has also been a great guy in the room, always speaking his mind and not diving into cliché-filled answers.
This move became apparent when the Blackhawks acquired defenseman Nikita Zaitsev from the Ottawa Senators.
Lafferty, who will turn 28 on March 6, was acquired in the first deal Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson made involving NHL players after taking over as interim GM last year. The Blackhawks acquired Lafferty from the Penguins for forward Alex Nylander on Jan. 5 of last year.
