With the All-Star break now upon us, the trade deadline looms large and is just over a month away. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Just like the Anaheim Ducks, who we covered yesterday, the aim for Chicago is to lose as many games as possible down the stretch. The coaching staff won’t be trying to lose, meaning the front office will have to do the work for them by stripping the roster of as much NHL talent as possible.
That doesn’t mean just older players on expiring contracts, either. General manager Kyle Davidson has made it clear with the trades of Alex DeBrincat, Brandon Hagel, and Kirby Dach that he’s gutting this team before building it up with the players he chooses. Contract term or youth doesn’t mean off-limits for the Blackhawks, who are one of the most interesting teams to watch over the next few weeks.
Record
15-29-4, 8th in the Central
Deadline Status
Seller
Deadline Cap Space
$16.06MM today, $26.77MM in deadline space, 0/3 retention slots used, 44/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2023: CHI 1st, TBL 1st, CHI 2nd, TBL 2nd, CHI 3rd, DAL 3rd, CHI 4th, CHI 5th, CHI 7th
2024: CHI 1st, TBL 1st, CHI 2nd, VAN 2nd, CHI 3rd, OTT 3rd, CHI 5th, CGY 5th, CHI 6th, CHI 7th
Trade Chips
All eyes are on Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, who are coming to the end of their matching eight-year, $84MM contracts. Both have full no-movement clauses, meaning they can control their destiny, and both have $10.5MM cap hits with barely any actual salary left to pay out. These are two Blackhawks legends who have won three Stanley Cup championships, multiple individual awards, and have never suited up for another team.
In a normal situation, it would be easy to assume they re-sign and spend their entire careers in Chicago. But this isn’t a normal situation, and it appears that new homes are coming for them one way or another. If it’s going to come in the summer anyway, perhaps Kane and Toews agree to help the franchise they have dedicated themselves to for so long, and waive their protection to bring assets back to the Blackhawks. But they won’t be easy trades to pull off given those massive cap hits.
Beyond the two franchise icons there are a number of other pieces that should be in play. Max Domi and Andreas Athanasiou signed one-year, $3MM deals last summer that immediately looked like deadline bait, while defensemen like Connor Murphy and Jake McCabe have seen their names in trade rumors. The latter two both have significant term left on their contracts (Murphy is signed through 2025-26 and McCabe through 2024-25), making them a little more complicated than a deadline rental deal, but could still be strong additions for contenders looking to beef up the back end.
What about Stanley Cup champion Jack Johnson, who is on an expiring deal of his own? Or Sam Lafferty, signed through next year at a reasonable amount and enjoying a nice season in Chicago?
Other potential trade chips: D Ian Mitchell, G Alex Stalock, F Philipp Kurashev
Team Needs
1) Draft picks: The Blackhawks aren’t trying to rebuild on the fly. They don’t need NHL-ready talent. It’s all about the draft, and how they can build up a class of players to support what will likely be several top-five picks over the next few years. If they can secure the next potential Kane and Toews – Connor Bedard and Michael Misa, for instance – they’ll need to find all the support players that are required to really contend. That’s what you can get at the deadline, and that’s what they’ll be after.
2) Potential flips: Don’t think that Chicago didn’t notice the way the Arizona Coyotes had dealt with a player like Shayne Gostisbehere. They had cashed in when acquiring him, and were about to cash in again at the deadline, had he not been injured. Acquiring a good player on a bad contract (along with a sweetener) just to turn around and sell him down the road after powerplay time boosts his numbers? Sounds like a recipe for success, and exactly the kind of opportunity that the Blackhawks front office will be looking for.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Still can’t really find a contender with deep cap space for Toews’ contract, even at the pro-rated level he’s just a 40 pt 2C at best these days. Which is not to diminish his accomplishments or his resume. Five million dollars is quite a lot to pay for the intangible of leadership in a salary cap context. Kane is a different story, but depends what he is playing through injury-wise.
Toews or Jeff Carter, who would you rather have right now? Give me Toews and find a way to make the money work.
First, It’s not 5 million dollars for Kane or Toews. It’s half of 5 million each because they’ve already played half the year and been paid. And it’s all about what they want to do with the rest of the year. They might just decide to play it out in Chicago. They both already have 3 rings so it’s not like they haven’t got one. If they decide to leave it will be about where they go, and if they don’t like it they can say no. You gotta love Bowman and his no movement clause contracts. Let’s hope Davidson learned something from the stupidity.
Jets are the perfect fit for Toews.
I was going to suggest Gustafson and a First would you think that might work?
I wouldn’t part with this years first.
The Hurricanes are a likely fit for Toews or Kane. With Pacioretty going on LTIR that opened up $7 mil of cap space. I’m not sure Toews will command that much in return tho. 5 mil cap space for 30 games of a 40 point C in his mid 30s on the downside of his career doesn’t scream huge return.
His FO% is top tier in the league, and he’s having a pretty resurgent year, offensively. He has been hurt on and off for the better part of 3 years now, with post concussion issues and most recently his auto-immune issue. But I could absolutely see a situation where the Hawks retain a large chunck of thr salary to get back a better return for him, and even if they don’t, he would likely command a 2nd on a contending team.
Ultimately, I think a deal gets done, but I get concerned with Davidson caving to pressure. That Debrincat trade was awful at last years draft.
Trouble is, they have so few teams they want to go to. Winnipeg makes sense for Toews for him, and Kane has mentioned Buffalo or NYY. We’ll just have to see what they decide to do.
The Debrincat trade was anything but awful. Korchinski is going to be a stud. Ludwinski is a very good C. A 3rd round pick in 2024 that hasn’t even been picked yet for a guy who they were never going to be able to re-sign. Debrincat was ALWAYS going to be a FA and is going to put himself on the open market. The Senators aren’t going to be able to sign him either and since they’re trying to sell not really going to pony up the money it’s going to take. Plus Debrincats stats have suffered since he isn’t playing with Patrick Kane. He’s a nice player who was a 2nd round steal but I think he’ll be overpaid in FA as he needs a stud to play with to be at his best. The trade was anything but awful. Kane and Toews come off the cap after this year but there is still a lot of Bowman stupidity left to get rid of and a tough choice had to be made. Jones, McCabe, Murphy, Johnson there’s still a lot of bad to be worked out with no movement clauses to boot. I’m guessing Debrincat wanted a no movement clause also and Davidon balked. I hope.