The one player that the Blackhawks were most expected to move is heading west, with the news first emerging in a report from TSN’s Darren Dreger.
It’s a complicated deal involving three teams, with the main headline being that the Blackhawks are acquiring a 2021 second-round pick and 2022 third-round pick from the Golden Knights in exchange for Mattias Janmark. To make the deal fit under the cap, San Jose is receiving Chicago’s 2021 fifth-round pick and retaining part of Janmark’s salary. The Blackhawks are retaining 50 percent of Janmark’s salary, according to the tweets below that confirmed the deal:
D-man Nick DeSimone was also acquired from San Jose.
To complete the trade, the #Blackhawks sent Janmark (retaining 50% of salary cap hit) to the Sharks, and DeSimone and a fifth-round pick in the 2022 #NHLDraft to Vegas. Janmark was then traded to Vegas. https://t.co/lwW4RgvqHs
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 12, 2021
With this move, the Blackhawks now have nine draft picks in the 2021 NHL Draft:
- one in the first round
- two in the second
- one each in the fourth, fifth and sixth
- three in the seventh/
For the 2022 NHL Draft, the Blackhawks now have seven picks:
- two in the third round
- one each in the first, second, fourth, sixth and seventh rounds/
Janmark, 28, joined the Blackhawks as a free agent on Oct. 12, 2020, signing a one-year deal worth $2.25 million. In 41 games with the Blackhawks, Janmark had 10 goals and 9 assists while averaging 16:49 of ice time. His best stretch with the team came in late January/early February, when he racked up nine points (5 G, 4 A) in 10 games. Lately, though, he’s been in a massive scoring slump with no goals and just one assists in the last 10 games.
Packaging a middle-six forward with a fifth-round pick in exchange for a second and third-round pick is the exact kind of trade the Blackhawks should’ve been making at this year’s deadline. Hard to find any reason to complain about this one.