NEWSLETTER
Watching the Blackhawks’ prospects put up solid numbers seemingly every weekend is exciting for those of us who are keeping at least one eye on the future. And the volume of players whose numbers are exciting is the best part. There are lots of guys having good seasons who have already been drafted by the Blackhawks in junior, college or the AHL.
I’m also mindful of how the pipeline got stocked, especially when I see folks tweeting things like “man, it would be cool if the Blackhawks had someone like Brandon Hagel on their roster.”
Yes, the Blackhawks wouldn’t have landed Connor Bedard if they hadn’t tanked. That’s true. But sometimes it feels like there’s a separation of the trades involved in the tear down and the only result anyone ever mentions (winning the Bedard lottery). Many of the painful trades made over the past 3+ years with Kyle Davidson as the general manager of the Blackhawks have brought in draft capital. But remembering which prospects came from which trades can sometimes help ease the pain of seeing former Blackhawks like Hagel named to the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters or performing well in highlight packages.
You know how I love me some trade forensics, eh? My brain got spinning earlier this week when my good friend David Pagnotta from The Fourth Period tweeted this fun fact regarding the Colorado-San Jose trade that went down:
I had already done some rabbit hole wandering recently looking back at trades made by the Blackhawks to acquire some of the draft capital used to build their current pipeline strength. Let’s look at a couple wandering trade trees that ultimately landed some of the top prospects in the Blackhawks’ system.
Brent Seabrook Trade Tree
Remember when the Blackhawks did the Lightning a solid and not only solved their cap space headache but also got Tyler Johnson off their roster? That deal came more than three years ago now, but the trickle down impact on the future of the Blackhawks’ organization is impressive.
This is a messy trade tree so I did my best to visualize how things have played out since the previous regime traded Seabrook to Tampa during the summer of 2021. That deal, overlapping with a couple other deals — including the Hagel trade (also with Tampa) — brought in a collection of draft picks that have been flipped and maneuvered to add three really good prospects to the system. Oh, and Jason Dickinson.
So, the Cliff Notes: we can track back almost four years to the Seabrook trade with Tampa thru five subsequent trades to land at three of the top current Blackhawks prospects: Oliver Moore, Sacha Boisvert and Marek Vanacker.
I’ll throw in one bonus that isn’t Blackhawks related but it’s kinda fun: the first-round pick that was used by Dallas to select Dickinson was acquired from Boston in the trade that sent JaromÃr Jágr to the Bruins in 2013.
Andrew Shaw Trade Tree
The Andrew Shaw trade tree is a little more linear, but it had an extra branch because the Blackhawks traded Shaw to Montreal and… then got him back from the Canadiens three years later. And both of those trades have ultimately added players to the Blackhawks’ pipeline — and two to the current NHL roster.
Starting with the first Chicago-Montreal trade involving Shaw, the Blackhawks have done just enough wheeling and dealing to add some more quality to the system.
In this instance, we can track the Blackhawks landing four current prospects — Kevin Korchinski, Paul Ludwinski, AJ Spellacy and Louis Crevier (although Korchinski and Crevier are on the NHL roster at the moment) — to Andrew Shaw’s two tenures in Chicago.
So, at the end of the day, the Blackhawks trading away two members of their Stanley Cup-winning rosters has ultimately added six players to my most recent top 25 prospect list and Crevier, who is still developing and has become a more intriguing prospect than many would expect from a seventh-round pick.
