Trade Deadline Primer: Chicago Blackhawks

With the Olympic break now upon us, the trade deadline is less than a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We begin our look around the league with teams that have clear plans at the extremes of the standings, this time with the Blackhawks.

In the early portion of the season, it appeared there could be some intrigue regarding the Blackhawks’ plans at the trade deadline later in the year. First-year head coach Jeff Blashill had the team punching above their weight, lingering in the Western Conference’s playoff race, and looking far less like the obvious seller most observers would have expected them to be once the calendar flipped to March. But Chicago wasn’t able to sustain the winning pace it kept up for the beginning of the year, and now finds itself back in a familiar position: well outside the playoff race and overwhelmingly likely to enter trade deadline season as firm sellers.

Record

22-26-9 (6th in the NHL’s Central Division)

Deadline Status

Sellers

Deadline Cap Space

$63.04MM on deadline day, 1/3 retention slots used, 41/50 contracts used per PuckPedia.

Upcoming Draft Picks

2026: CHI 1st, FLA 1st (Top-10 Protected), CHI 2nd, NYI 2nd, TOR 2nd, CHI 3rd, OTT 4th, CHI 7th, FLA 7th
2027: CHI 1st, CHI 2nd, VAN 2nd, CHI 3rd, CHI 4th, CHI 6th, CHI 7th

Trade Chips

While the Blackhawks in prior years have listened to offers on veteran players without much consideration to contract status, the team is now in a different stage of its rebuilding process. The team may have once been interested in how it could use any veteran asset to help contribute to its stockpile of draft picks and prospects, it does not make as much sense for the club to do that now. Veterans with multiple years of team control remaining, such as Teuvo Teravainen, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Ryan Donato, for example, each play a role in supporting the team’s young players in the lineup, and retaining those players would help the Blackhawks’ rebuild propel forward in a variety of different ways.

As a result, it’s likely that Chicago’s selling at the deadline will be more concentrated on its pending UFAs, the players who are unlikely to be retained by the team beyond 2025-26. Among pending UFAs, the Blackhawks have several veteran players likely to attract interest from contending teams.

In what is widely expected to be a thin market for centers, Jason Dickinson could be among the top options for a team looking to add a bottom-six pivot.

While his days of scoring 22 goals, as he did in 2023-24, may be over, he remains a fixture on Chicago’s penalty kill, wins nearly half of his draws, and has even received Selke Trophy votes during his time in Chicago.

His $4.25MM cap hit is also unlikely to be too prohibitive for contending teams to be able to fit into their payroll, especially if the Blackhawks elect to retain salary.

One of Chicago’s other top veteran pending UFAs, like Dickinson, plays at a premium position. 32-year-old Connor Murphy is a right-shot defenseman who has been the subject of trade rumors throughout his Blackhawks tenure, in large part due to his reliability as well as positional value. While he’s ceded a top-four role this season to other younger Blackhawks blueliners, he remains among the team’s most heavily-used defender on the penalty kill, and could be an attractive option for a team looking for a stable veteran defensive defenseman. Murphy has a 10-team no-trade list on his contract.

While Dickinson and Murphy are the team’s two most obvious trade candidates, and the players likely to hold the most value on the trade market, Chicago does have a few other pending UFA players who could draw interest: Captain Nick Foligno is a respected veteran leader who contending teams could be eager to add as a bottom-six forward. Veteran winger Ilya Mikheyev is flirting with a second consecutive 20-goal season in Chicago, and is the team’s top penalty-killing forward. Although he has a 12-team no-trade list, he could be of great interest to contending teams.

Versatile forward Sam Lafferty has had a season to forget, but does have the ability to play center and was an in-demand bottom-six forward during his last go-around with the Blackhawks. If a team is looking to add a depth center without giving up significant assets, Lafferty could very well be a player they have interest in.

A team looking to stabilize its bottom pairing on defense, perhaps even with a veteran player who could fill in on the power play in case of injuries, could have interest in blueliner Matt Grzelcyk. The 32-year-old, who scored 40 points in 2024-25, has just 12 points in 57 games this season after joining the Blackhawks originally on a PTO. He’s unlikely to return Chicago very much in a trade, but is nonetheless a candidate to be dealt due to his experience level and pending UFA status.

Trade Needs

NHL-Ready Young Talent: The Blackhawks aren’t at the stage of their rebuild where draft picks are at their most valuable. Sure, the team could still benefit from adding more picks and prospects to its pipeline, but that is unlikely to be their most pressing interest. Chicago has picked high in the draft in each of the last four years, including inside the top-three picks of the draft in each of the last three years.

There are more than enough players on the way, and more importantly, there are already many young players on the roster in need of additional support, such as franchise face Connor Bedard, 2022 first-rounder Frank Nazar, and a wealth of other young pieces.

If the Blackhawks trade away some veterans at this deadline, their top priority in terms of return should be trying to add prospects, not picks, and especially prospects who are close to NHL-ready, players who the Blackhawks could quickly plug into their NHL lineup and assess whether they’re a fit to be part of the team’s next contending core.

Photos courtesy of Chris Jones-Imagn Images