We’re getting closer to the NHL’s trade deadline (March 7), but the rumors are hot already. A big reason for that is the fact that 15 of the 16 teams in the Eastern Conference can plausibly argue they have a shot at making the playoffs. Which is great news for sellers this year — including the Chicago Blackhawks.
A couple good pieces this week on the subject that I recommend reading:
- “A chaotic race in the NHL’s Eastern Conference, and how it could affect the trade deadline” — Pierre LeBrun (The Athletic, Jan. 21)
- “Blackhawks might benefit in trade negotiations because of playoff logjam in Eastern Conference” — Ben Pope (Chicago Sun-Times, Jan. 19)
A good summary statement from LeBrun:
“Which begs the question: If you’re a GM for the top five or six clubs in the conference, does that make you even more eager to add a piece or two before the March 7 trade deadline because you feel it could be that missing little edge needed to put you over the top? Or do you take a more agnostic view, that it doesn’t really make sense to spend major assets if it’s all a coin flip anyway?
Judging on what we are already hearing, I would bet on the former. Count on the top clubs in the East all trying to add. That’s the competitive nature of each management group, to want to give their current roster the best shot possible.”
With that in mind, the Blackhawks figure to be perfectly positioned to make some moves. They have a handful of veteran players — Taylor Hall, Ryan Donato, Pat Maroon, Craig Smith and Alec Martinez — headed to unrestricted free agency this summer. The Blackhawks also have a few veterans in Seth Jones, Connor Murphy and, yes, Lukas Reichel who could be interesting to buyers because of their position, skill and term left on their deals. (Obviously Murphy needs to be healthy.)
The Blackhawks could be in the mix with players who could help many of the teams in both conferences that want to make a run in the postseason. Which is exciting when you consider the potential return if/when there’s a potential bidding war for the services of a player like Hall, who has been good in the playoffs as recently as 2023 (five goals in seven games with Boston.
My interest at the deadline this year is whether the Blackhawks continue to focus their acquisition efforts on draft capital — potentially packaging their picks to improve draft position? adding more picks in the second and third rounds in the future? — or if they shift to targeting prospects who might be closer to the NHL than the next wave of Blackhawks prospects. Rachel Doerrie at ESPN wrote a good piece looking at some prospects who might be available on contenders in both conferences at the deadline.
A Case for the Blackhawks to Not Trade Everyone
I know I’ve said this here and on our social media channels a lot lately with the speculation increasing that there might be teams interested in acquiring the Blackhawks’ highest-paid player, but that hasn’t seemed to resonate with some in our audience. So I’m going to take what Elliotte Friedman said about the situation from the Monday episode of the “32 Thoughts” Podcast and just leave it here for y’all to digest. Making a player disappear is one thing. Being able to replace him is another.
“I look at this whole thing with Seth Jones in Chicago right now. You know, Chicago’s really struggling, you know Jones had a bad game last week. All of a sudden you’re talking about do you want to move him, is he available, and it would be a really complicated deal. But, you know, Connor Murphy‘s hurt again. The thing about a guy like Seth Jones is… Chicago, they’re going to start turning it over to even more of their younger players I think, but you do need veterans. You do need some veterans there.
And, if you’re looking at [Connor] Bedard and how disappointed and despondent he is… you know, we’ve talked about how hard it is to get top players to come back to your team when you’re not doing well. Yeah, Jones has some flaws like every player does, but who’s gonna take his role if he’s gone? Are you getting anybody else out there who can at least shelter some of your young players and allow them to break into the NHL the way you need them to break in. I don’t know that you have that….
Now, if Jones get frustrated and wants to go somewhere where he can win, that’s a different story. But I could see the Blackhawks saying this after and saying, ‘Is there a trade for Jones that’s gonna make us better at a point where people aren’t exactly beating down the doors to come play for us.'”
Which brings us back to the question of who to trade and who to retain. I’ve said a few times that I wouldn’t be angry at all if the Blackhawks opted to retain and extend Donato (see Tuesday morning’s bullets). To the point that Freidman makes above, there is value in having the right veterans surrounding the youth movement as they come in. And two forwards in the room who you would like the young players to emulate at this point are Donato and Jason Dickinson.
Up front, I’m totally cool if the Blackhawks move everyone I’ve mentioned but Donato at the deadline. The Blackhawks could bring Landon Slaggert and Cole Guttman (who’s a pending RFA by the way) back up to the NHL and possibly get a look at Samuel Savoie at some point.
On the blue line it gets a little more complicated.
The emergence of Louis Crevier as a viable defenseman at the NHL level on the right side makes the talk about moving one of Jones/Murphy slightly more intriguing, though I would tend to think a move this summer makes more sense for either of them. The Blackhawks have Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel coming eventually, but they also shouldn’t bank on either/both of them being an 82-game regular as early as opening night of the 2025-26 season. Those two and Crevier might be the long-term right side, but there needs to be a bridge to when the Blackhawks hand that half of the blue line to three young players.
On the left side, Alex Vlasic isn’t going anywhere. Martinez was brought in on a one-year deal and we should expect him — if healthy — to depart at some point. That would open a spot for one of Kevin Korchinski or Ethan Del Mastro (or, maybe, Wyatt Kaiser/Nolan Allan to not get scratched).
It’s worth noting again here that both Kaiser and Crevier are pending RFAs this summer. So decisions on their individual futures will need to be made at some point — potentially before the trade deadline.
However things sort out, what’s exciting heading into this trade deadline for Blackhawks fans is there are actual prospects who we want to see in the NHL and this year’s deadline is as much about making room for them in Chicago as it is about adding more assets to the rebuild.