Blackhawks Will Have Weak Deadline With 1 Potential Trade To Come

The Chicago Blackhawks killed most of their opportunity to trade any players of value other than two when they signed Jason Dickinson, Petr Mrazek, and Nick Foligno. This left Colin Blackwell and Connor Murphy as potential targets for teams. Since Murphy got injured recently, Elliotte Friedman thinks that crushes any chances of him being dealt.

Blackwell, the one likely piece the Blackhawks will try to trade, is a UFA at the end of the season and has a cap hit of $1.2 million AAV. The team has the room to retain cap on more players, so this could easily take his cap hit down to under league minimum for a contender to add some forward depth ahead of the deadline.

Blackwell has five goals and eight points in 31 games and is now playing on the second line. Realistically, he would be a fourth line player on a contender who can play center or the wing. He is physical, a solid two-way player, and can produce offensively when given the right opportunity. While the team is able to be a third party in larger deals and get some mid-round draft picks, this and trading Blackwell will likely be all that happens for them.