NEWSLETTER
When the Blackhawks recalled Isaak Phillips from Rockford on Friday evening, it was at least intriguing. Even with Connor Murphy, Caleb Jones and Jake McCabe out of the lineup, they had plenty of defensemen available for their game in Minnesota on Thursday night.
Now we know why they called him back to join the team in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon.
The Blackhawks announced late Friday that they have traded defenseman Riley Stillman to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Jason Dickinson and a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Dickinson, 27, was the 29th overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft. That’s noteworthy because Seth Jones was the fourth overall pick that year and Max Domi was the 12th overall selection.
The Blackhawks selected Ryan Hartman with the pick immediately following Dickinson.
Listed at 6-2 and 200 pounds, Dickinson had five goals and six assists in 62 games for Vancouver last year. He has scored 30 goals with 44 assists in 283 career regular season games between Dallas and Vancouver. The Stars traded Dickinson to Vancouver for a third-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.
Dickinson was credited with 101 hits and 43 blocked shots last year with the Canucks.
He has two more years remaining on his contract that carries a $2.65M cap hit.
The departure of Stillman, 24, means the Blackhawks like enough of what they’ve seen from Alex Vlasic, Alec Regula, Phillips and Filip Roos to fill out their blue line for the season.
But the real win here is the second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The Blackhawks now have two picks in the first, second and third rounds of the 2023 and 2024 NHL Draft.
Stillman has two years remaining on a three-year deal that carries a $1.35M cap hit. Vancouver was over the cap by about $2 million so this was a necessary salary dump for them, and Kyle Davidson was able to take advantage of the situation.
Davidson has been transparent about his desire to build through the draft, and this gives him another pick early in an upcoming draft.
