Within days of becoming general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, Kyle Davidson shipped out Marc-Andre Fleury, Brandon Hagel and Ryan Carpenter before the March 21 trade deadline. Having signaled his intention to rebuild his roster, Davidson could resume wheeling-and-dealing in the coming weeks.
On Saturday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said the Blackhawks could be worth watching in the trade market. He excluded Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Seth Jones because of their no-movement clauses but indicated they’re testing the market for anyone else on their roster that other clubs are willing to ask about.
Chicago Sun-Times‘ Ben Pope believes Kane and Toews can’t and won’t be traded unless they request it. However, he suggested their decisions could be determined by Davidson’s moves this summer.
The long-time Blackhawks stars each have a year remaining on their identical contracts and could be lukewarm to the idea of a long rebuild. Should one or both ask to be traded, their hefty $10.5 million cap hits would make them difficult to move.
Alex DeBrincat would be a more interesting trade chip. Cap Friendly indicates the 24-year-old winger is signed through 2022-23 with an annual average value of $6.4 million and lacks no-trade protection. Pope considers a DeBrincat trade unlikely but didn’t rule it out.
Hagel was also considered unlikely to be traded because of his youth, affordable contract and two-way play. Davidson bundled him with two fourth-round picks to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk and two conditional first-round picks.
Davidson will set a hefty price for DeBrincat if he’s willing to listen to offers. Nevertheless, a club with cap room and a need for a scoring winger could ante up for him this summer.
