NEWSLETTER
The NHL Trade Deadline is approaching and the Chicago Blackhawks are without a GM in power to make trades. While they might have trimmed their candidates down to the final three, that wasn’t fast enough for me. So now I turn the power over to you the Blackhawks fans! We asked and you delivered, so here are the best trades you came up with for the Blackhawks to make by the March 21 NHL Trade Deadline!
Brandon Ford – Patrick Kane to the New York Rangers for Kaapo Kakko, Brennan Othmann, Vitali Kravtsov, 2023 first-round pick. Blackhawks send their best third-round pick in 2022 for the lower of New York’s two 2022 second-round picks this year. Blackhawks retain $3M salary.
Lots of moving pieces here. The Rangers lose a good chunk of their future capital, but they are already a young team having a quick successful turnaround. Chicago loses their hockey icon, but gets back top-end prospects and a second first-round pick next year. While they don’t recoup their 2022 first-round pick, getting three young former first-round picks is just as good. New York also reunites Artemiy Panarin and Patrick Kane for the next two seasons. GRADE: B+
@44_cubsfan – Marc-André Fleury and Jake McCabe to Edmonton Oilers for Jesse Puljujarvi and a 2023 second-round pick.
The Oilers need so much help in net and on defense. But, McCabe has not had a good season and Fleury wants to go to a contender. Is Edmonton still a contender or would they need Fleury to make themselves contenders? Something to consider for him with his ten-team no-trade list. A future second-round pick is nice, but if the Blackhawks are moving Fleury, they’ll want something more than that. Grade: C+
@MattMcCue15 – I don’t know enough about the hockey landscape outside of Chicago to know for sure. But I feel like Erik Gustafsson for Connor McDavid straight up is a deal I’d like.
Seems fair to me. GRADE: incomplete
I’m not sold that the Penguins would give up their first-round pick for Fleury to be either the backup to Tristan Jarry or in a 1A-1B situation, even with salary retained. It would be a great story, though. GRADE: C-
@JRKANE881 – Calvin de Haan (50% retained), Dominik KubalÃk, 2022 fifth-round pick to the Florida Panthers for Frank Vatrano, Justin Sourdif, 2023 second-round pick.
Florida has been a well-oiled machine this season. If they want to get over the hump in a stacked Eastern Conference, having a veteran like de Haan on their blue-line and having a middle-six shooter like KubalÃk could do the trick. Sourdif is intriguing to me and the future second-round pick is not bad for what Chicago would be giving up. GRADE: B
Straight-forward deal, simple and benefits both sides. Although with Toronto getting Ilya Lyubushkin, not sure they’ll be in the market for another depth defensive defenseman. GRADE: B (if it were to go through)
Simple again. I like simple, sense-making deals. Carpenter and KubalÃk would slot well into the bottom-six of the Rangers, a team looking to go for it early in their retooling process. Neither player alone would fetch a first-round pick for the Blackhawks, but together and going to a young team who would get to keep all their prospects in the process, makes sense to me. GRADE: B+
While we already have been told that Washington went hard after Fleury and it didn’t get done, this is the kind of return Chicago would likely want to get back in a Fleury deal. The picks would be later in the rounds, seeing as the Capitals with Fleury could make a deep postseason run, but flipping Fleury for two useful picks when they acquired him for nearly nothing would be a big “W.” GRADE: A
@blakerdietrich – Patrick Kane to the Dallas Stars for Denis Gurianov, Jason Robertson, and a 2022 third-round pick.
I mean, maybe? Gurianov’s a former first-round pick, but hasn’t blown anyone away in the NHL yet and Robertson looks to be a budding star. It still seems low for the level of play that Kane can still bring to the ice on a nightly basis. GRADE: C+
@MichaelDWagner – Marc-André Fleury (50% retention) and Columbus’ Sixth-Round Pick to the Washington Capitals for Ilya Samsonov, Aliaksei Protas, and Winnipeg’s Second-Round Pick.
You upgrade picks in this year’s draft, that’s good. You get a young goalie back in the process, that’s also really good. Beyond this season, Chicago;s only current goalie on the books is Arvid Söderblom, so getting Samsonov is very intriguing. But again, it seems like the door is closed on a Fleury to the Capitals deal. GRADE: B-
Of course there has to be a Jonathan Toews to Winnipeg deal, right? The money doesn’t work one-for-one, so there would have to be much more done on Winnipeg’s side. Copp has been good, but when you’re trying to sell the Blackhawks fan base on dealing Toews, the return has to be much more, in theory. GRADE: C
This was a fun exercise and I appreciate everyone sending in their best offers! Hopefully whoever is hired as the next Blackhawks GM has some of the same ideas that some of you have.
