Chicago Blackhawks' Best Trade Of The Past Year

The Chicago Blackhawks have made many trades over the past year as they continue to tear things down as best they can. Their bigger trades haven't hit the mark, but they have done a great job in taking on bad contracts and acquiring high draft picks. Two deals in particular are in question as their best of the past year.

The first occurred last summer when the Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs made a trade. The Blackhawks took on Petr Mrazek to upgrade from pick number 38 to 25 in the 2022 draft. This isn't a huge jump, but at the start of the draft, these leaps are significant. Chicago ended up with Sam Rinzel instead of Fraser Minten. Mrazek has done his job this season on the last place Blackhawks.

The second trade of this nature came before the trade deadline with the Ottawa Senators when the Blackhawks then took on Nikita Zaitsev's contract. In this trade the Blackhawks had to give up nothing, got a defenceman, a 2023 second round pick, and a 2026 fourth round pick.

Both players have been in the lineup this season and fill a need as they help get Chicago to the cap floor. In terms of a return, the Blackhawks did better with the desperate Senators to get a couple of assets without having to give one up. So that's their best of the past year. Maybe they'll do better when the team sells players over the next year.