So we need to go ahead and start Saturday where we… overwhelmed the actual game last night: the Taylor Hall trade. There have been so many comments on social media that really don’t seem to understand what the Blackhawks did last night. The best I can do is break it down as simply as this.
You’re trading Taylor Hall for a third round pick. You aren’t a cap ceiling team. Your options are:
- Retain $3.0M in cap space, receive a pick between Nos. 85-96 in the 2025 NHL Draft
- Retain $4.625M in cap space, receive a pick between Nos. 65-67 in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Which are you picking? I hate to make it this simple, but that’s really what it is.
- The Blackhawks will get a chance to let Hall know how much they appreciate him in less than a week. Remember: the Hawks are in Carolina on Thursday, Jan. 30.
- Another note on this deal, because a lot of people are (rightfully) asking why the heck Colorado would trade one of the top ten players in the league in the middle of the season. Rantanen is going to be an unrestricted free agent this summer. The Avs don’t want to pay him more than Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6M cap hit. Rantanen wants to be in the same ballpark as Leon Draisaitl ($14M per). The Avs negotiated as long and as far as they could until the realization that he wasn’t going to stay set in. At that point, Colorado decided to make a strong move to get retainable assets and some additional cap flexibility if they want to make another move (which there are strong indications could happen soon).
- Let’s not take for granted that this trade gets Rantanen out of Colorado. Martin Necas is a really good player; I wrote about the Blackhawks pursuing him this past summer more than once. But breaking up Colorado’s Big Three is smart business for a team in the division.
- Not necessarily lost in the wild buzz surrounding one of the biggest blockbuster trades in recent memory was a game that was played last night. The Blackhawks sprinted to an impressive 3-1 lead and then… Blackhawks’d the you-know-what out of the third period. If Arvid Söderblom wasn’t incredible in the third, this game wouldn’t have made it to overtime.
- Remember when I said Frank Nazar was getting great chances but they weren’t going in? And, if he kept doing the same things, at some point it would start happening? Like it has for Tyler Bertuzzi? Well, Nazar had his first career multi-point game last night and has four points in his last three games.
- Interim head coach Anders Sorensen liked what he saw from Ethan Del Mastro in his NHL season debut. He skated 15:49 — the lowest of the six defensemen — but was credited with two hits and three shot attempts. Del Mastro also had the best Corsi For (17-11) rate among all Blackhawks defensemen in the game (according to Natural Stat Trick).
- Five of the Blackhawks’ six defensemen were credited with at least one hit last night: Nolan Allan led the way with three, followed by Del Mastro, Louis Crevier and Alec Martinez with two each and one for Alex Vlasic.
- Martinez wore an A last night with Connor Murphy on IR and Seth Jones out sick.
- Here’s what Sorensen said about sending Wyatt Kaiser back to Rockford:
“The biggest thing for young D is you have to play games consecutively, play minutes, get reps, especially in the breakouts, getting those reps in a lot under pressure. The American League can be a little chaotic at times but that’s good for him to get a lot of time in those situations.”
- A reminder: tomorrow night’s Blackhawks-Wild game is Hockey Fights Cancer night at the United Center. If anyone wants to give me one of the beanies they’re giving away I wouldn’t be made at all…
- The Blackhawks had a scout in Barrie for the Colts vs. Brampton Steelheads game on Thursday night because it’s due diligence season and one of the top draft prospects Porter Martone (Brampton) was skating in same game. Martone did not register a point in the game, but he did provide NHL.com with some thoughts on his season and looking forward to hearing his name called in the 2025 NHL Draft.
- Before we get into prospect highlights, a nice update on Friday morning from the college ranks. Minnesota-Duluth captain Dominic James was added to the list of nominees for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. That gives the Blackhawks five (5) nominees in their pipeline, which is great!
UPDATE: the #Blackhawks have FIVE (5) prospects named nominees for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award www.bleachernation.com/blackhawks/2…
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@bn-blackhawks.bsky.social) January 24, 2025 at 12:11 PM
[image or embed]
Hey how about some Blackhawks prospect highlights?
- Minnesota got absolutely boat raced out of the barn at Michigan State last night. Sparty scored eight even strength goals in a 9-3 blowout. In a game that ugly, one would think there were some nasty numbers for some Gophers in the plus-minus column. Not so much for the two Blackhawks prospects. Sam Rinzel was minus-one but didn’t have a point. Oliver Moore finished the night even and scored this pretty goal when the game was still relatively close.
Friday night 🚨 from #Blackhawks prospect and two-time gold medalist at the WJC Oliver Moore for @GopherHockey
pic.twitter.com/vVoK88u8qO— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 25, 2025
- Providence and UMass-Lowell skated to a 3-3 tie. John Mustard had one assist in the game. Taige Harding was credited with two blocked shots.
- In a heat battle between Boston College and Boston University, BC scored five goals in the final two periods to skate away with a 6-2 win. Ryan Greene had an assist in the first period for BU. He was also credited with eight shots on goal and won 11 of 15 faceoffs.
- Minnesota-Duluth upset Denver 4-3. Both Denver’s Aidan Thompson and UMD’s Dominic James had an assist in the game, helping both of their resumes for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.
- In the OHL, Jack Pridham got a penalty shot while short-handed last night — and he buried it. Kitchener beat Owen Sounds 5-1.
👀 this penalty shot 🚨 from #Blackhawks prospect Jack Pridham for @OHLRangers
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 25, 2025
pic.twitter.com/lxgcomeNXG
- Brantford beat Guelph 5-1 last night. Marek Vanacker had an assist on the first goal of the night. Nick Lardis scored an empty-net goal to close the books for the night. The goal is the 39th of the season for Lardis.
- Martin Misiak scored this pretty goal in the shootout to win the game for Erie last night.
Who else but Martin Misiak with the shootout game winning goal! pic.twitter.com/zasRc5lYeD
— Erie Otters 🦦 (@ErieOtters) January 25, 2025
- AJ Spellacy had himself a week, y’all. He signed his entry-level contract with the Blackhawks on Thursday and then scored this clutch goal in the third period last night. Windsor won 4-3 in overtime and Spellacy was named the game’s No. 1 star. He won 5 of 10 faceoffs and put four shots on net.
Thursday – signed first pro contract
Friday – scores a clutch goal #Blackhawks prospect AJ Spellacy has had a week, y’all
pic.twitter.com/X4LpSzgznY— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 25, 2025
MORE FROM BLEACHER NATION: Check Out BN Fantasy | Subscribe to The BN Newsletter
- The Bears have asked to speak with a Vikings assistant about their defensive coordinator gig.
- The Cubs have two of the best right fielders in all of baseball.
- Apparently Zach LaVine wants to stay with the Bulls beyond the trade deadline.