The Chicago Blackhawks have acquired forwards Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann from the Montreal Canadiens, the team announced Friday. The Canadiens receive young forward Phillip Danault and a 2018 second-round pick in Chicago’s latest win-now move.
Montreal will retain 30 percent of Weise’s salary, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie.
Weise and Fleischmann join Andrew Ladd and Christian Ehrhoff as the Blackhawks’ trade deadline reinforcements this year. Ladd was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets in a huge trade on Thursday, while Ehrhoff was part of a deal with the Los Angeles Kings for Rob Scuderi.
Weise has been the more productive of the two wingers with 14 goals and 12 assists in 56 games with Montreal this season. The 27-year-old has never produced good possession numbers but could be a useful scoring option considering the Hawks were looking for players to pair next to Teuvo Teravainen on the third line.
Now that shouldn’t be an issue. Fleischmann, 31, has 10 goals and 10 assists in 57 games this season. He’s traditionally played left wing, while Weise has been a right wing. Regardless, there’s no shortage of options for Joel Quenneville as he builds out his lineups now with these two and Ladd.
The price once again wasn’t exactly cheap with the Hawks giving up Danault, a talented defensive-minded center, and a high pick. However, seen alongside the Ladd and Ehrhoff trades, it becomes clear the Blackhawks are taking few chances in improving their roster this year, not unlike how they added Antoine Vermette, Kimmo Timonen and Andrew Desjardins in 2015. Hopefully this time works out as well.
Both Fleischmann and Weise are set to become unrestricted free agents this summer. Fleischmann has a $750,000 cap hit and Weise has a $717,500 cap hit thanks to Montreal’s retained salary.
The Hawks have traded several picks now. Here’s where their pick situation stands for 2016-18:
| Round | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| 1 | Traded to WPG (Ladd) | Own pick | Own pick |
| 2 | Traded to PHI (Timonen) | Own pick | Traded to MTL (Weise/Fleischmann) |
| 3 | Own pick | Traded to CAR (Versteeg) | Conditional to WPG (Ladd) |
| 4 | Own pick; CBJ’s pick (Saad) | Own pick | Own pick |
| 5 | Own pick; FLA’s pick (Pirri) | Own pick; CAR’s pick (Versteeg) | Own pick |
| 6 | Own pick | Own pick | Own pick |
| 7 | Own pick | Traded to SJ (Desjardins) | Own pick |
| TOTAL | 7 picks | 6 picks | 6 picks |
The conditional 2018 third-rounder will be sent to Winnipeg if the Blackhawks win this year’s Stanley Cup