We have a trade!
The trade was first reported by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli and later confirmed by the team on Twitter: Chicago is acquiring Joe Veleno from the Red Wings in exchange for a pair of veterans: forward Craig Smith and goaltender Petr Mrazek.
trade alert🔔
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 7, 2025
read all about it📰 ➡︎ https://t.co/JF7Gxo3hlR pic.twitter.com/32UPJvNwop
Veleno, who turned 25 in January, was a first-round pick (30th overall) of the Red Wings back in the 2018 NHL Draft. He debuted during the 2020-21 season and has appeared in 288 games across five seasons with 74 points (35 G, 39 A) in his NHL career. This season, he has just 10 points (5 G, 5 A) in 56 games while skating only 11:57 per game, with all of those numbers a mild decline from the 28 points (12 G, 16 A) he amassed during 80 games and an average ice time of 13:57 in the 2023-24 season. Veleno signed a 2-year contract extension in Detroit last summer with an annual cap hit of $2.275 million, which means he’ll remain under contract in Chicago until the summer of 2026.
Based on the data above and the player card from All Three Zones, Veleno seems to excel more on the defensive side of the ice than he does in the offensive aspects of the game:
Mrazek was the odd man out in the Chicago goaltending trio following the Blackhawks’ acquisition of Spencer Knight last weekend, while Craig Smith was a veteran addition in the offseason who always seemed destined for a different team before the trade deadline arrived. Veleno’s spot in the Chicago lineup might look awfully similar to what Smith’s been handling for the last five months.
Expectations will likely remain low for Veleno, given that the 28 points he tallied last season were a career-high. But moving out a pair of veterans for a younger player who could skate bottom-six minutes over the next season-plus seems like a decent enough piece of business. We’ll see if Kyle Davidson has anything else up his sleeve with the 2 p.m. CT trade deadline rapidly approaching.