NEWSLETTER
The NHL Entry Draft is just a week away. If the Chicago Blackhawks are going to move Alex DeBrincat before the start of the 2022-23 season, the belief is that it will come ahead of the draft so that Kyle Davidson and the Blackhawks can continue to add picks and young talent to their roster.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman joined Mick Kern and Peter Bruce on the Under Review show on Sirius XM’s NHL Radio and shared an interesting nugget on the DeBrincat front.
Friedman told Kern and Bruce that the Blackhawks have turned down a hefty offer for DeBrincat that would have included multiple first-rounders.
Here’s the language, if you couldn’t listen:
“There’s at least one team I am working on today that has made a pretty big offer for DeBrincat, which, if it’s true, included at least a couple of first-rounders. One of them would have been pretty high, and I heard that Chicago wouldn’t do that. So, I’m very curious to see what it’s going to take to get DeBrincat out of there.”
Tab fleshed out what we’ve heard on the DeBrincat front a couple of days ago, and the consensus thus far is this:
- The Blackhawks are looking for MULTIPLE first-round picks.
- The Blackhawks want a young prospect that can play in Chicago this season in addition to the picks.
So, this offer from the mystery team that Friedman cited jives with that thinking and, if true, provides further clarity on the ask for DeBrincat by the Hawks front office. If Davidson turned down “at least two first-rounders,” then either Davidson is setting the bar at three first-rounders, or, the mystery team didn’t offer up a young prospect that interested the Blackhawks enough.
Alex DeBrincat is coming off of a career-high 78 points this season (the second 70-point season of his career) and he tied his career-high in goals (41) for the Blackhawks, making him an extremely valuable trade asset for Davidson and the Blackhawks front office.
We learned at the trade deadline that Kyle Davidson is confident in his valuation of his players, and he’s not willing to come down from what he believes is a fair asking price.
If the Blackhawks are asking for more than a pair of first-rounders ahead of next week’s draft, I find it hard to see a DeBrincat trade before then. Unless a team throws in that third first-rounder or a prospect that moves the needle for Davidson, The Cat might be in Chicago come fall.
