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Kyle Davidson speaks with media following the 2025 NHL trade deadline

The GM discussed what the Blackhawks did and did not do on Friday as the trade deadline came and went.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

After a wild NHL Trade Deadline late afternoon, Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson spoke to the media about the moves — and non-moves — the organization that Friday.

First, there is the non-move: the Blackhawks did not trade forward Ryan Donato. He is having a career-best season with 46 points (23 G, 23 A) in 60 games and is on an expiring contract with a pro-rated $2 million cap hit for the rest of the season, a combination that is basically the perfect rental for a playoff team. And with so many teams still in the race for the playoffs, this was one of the hottest seller’s markets at the trade deadline in recent memory.

So why didn’t the Blackhawks trade Donato? Davidson basically said the price they wanted wasn’t met by any team. On Thursday, Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus of The Athletic reported the Blackhawks would need to hear “something exciting” to trade Donato, and no conversations had advanced beyond team’s doing a check-in on his availability. Davidson basically reiterated that point in his remarks to the media on Friday, that the Blackhawks had “set a high price” on Donato because “he’s a great example that you want in your organization” and no team was able to match that value with a trade option, at least in their eyes.

It’s unknown what that high price was, though. Considering the assets being thrown around for players not performing as well as Donato — I mean, Anthony Beauvillier returned a second-round pick, and Scott Laughton plus some late picks pulled in a first-round pick — it’s likely the Blackhawks were looking for more than just draft capital. That makes sense to an extent, as the Blackhawks do have 12 first and second round picks over the next three drafts, and Davidson pointed out the organization is more interested in actual players instead of more draft picks.

Or the it’s possible draft capital being offered was too low: Powers noted in his post-TDL article that the Blackhawks did not receive an offer for a first or second-round pick. That seems suspect based on what teams were willing to pay for lesser players, but if accurate, Davidson was right to hold on to Donato versus taking a low-ball offer of a mid or late draft pick. (Note: Powers updated this article about 30 minutes after original publication with the picks information, in case anyone thought they’d missed it on first read.)

Additionally, Davidson went to say the Blackhawks are open to using their draft capital and high volume prospect poo to acquire NHL quality players.

Whatever the case, the Blackhawks do not seem too worried about Donato being unable to repeat that productivity from this season: they like everything else he brings to the table enough to want to keep him around. The only issue is that Donato is on an expiring deal and a contract extension was not sealed before the trade deadline, so there remains some risk that Donato could walk in free agency. The Blackhawks have been talking to Donato’s camp about the extension, but it doesn’t sound like it has progressed much yet. Luckily, there is plenty of time to get the deal done.

The Blackhawks also did make two trade on Friday. The first sent forward Craig Smith and goaltender Petr Mrazek to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for forward Joe Veleno while the second saw the team send a 2026 sixth-round pick to the Utah Hockey Club in exchange for the contract belonging to Shea Weber along with forward Aku Räty and defenseman Victor Söderström.

The first is a nice trade for Davidson: he moved Mrazek without retaining any salary, and Veleno is a useful defensive player who basically replaces what Smith brings to the table while being over a decade younger. Mrazek will still be in a three-goalie rotation in Detroit, completing with Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon, but he’s got a better shot of coming out on top as the starter there than with the Blackhawks, who publicly said their focus is on their young goalies Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom.

Veleno will reportedly join the Blackhawks in Nashville on Saturday before the Blackhawks play the Predators, though it’s unknown if he’ll play with the team. Considering it’s the second game in a back-to-back, it’s more likely than not.

As for the trade with Utah, it’s all about cap management and flexibility going into next season. The Blackhawks were likely worried about meeting the cap floor, and Weber’s cap hit of just over $7.85 million will make that more easily possible. Without Weber, the Blackhawks were under the floor by a bit less than $20 million, though it could be more if they move on from TJ Brodie ($3.750m) and Laurent Brossoit ($3.3m). With Weber, that number is closer to $10.5 million. The Blackhawks can still target some bigger names with high cap hits if they want — they’ll have at least $35 million in cap space — but this move allows them flexibility in case they aren’t able to acquire any. It also could mean the Blackhawks plan to have more young players up in the NHL next season, most of which will be on lower-cost contracts.

This wasn’t a typical cap dump by Utah, though, since they did not have to move Weber and the Blackhawks do benefit. This means the “reward” for taking on a cap hit of that size isn’t as exciting it might typically be: Raty and Soderstrom are both still young at 23 and 24 respectively, but they’ve both struggled with consistency on North American ice with neither really making it out of the AHL. There’s only a narrow chance either will be NHL players in the future, but who knows what could happen. Plus, the Blackhawks basically got these kids for free on a move that helps the organization with cap management, so it doesn’t hurt to take a chance.

Of the two, it seems like Davidson is most intrigued by Soderstrom, which isn’t surprising, considering the young right-handed defender has been having a solid season in Sweden. Maybe he’s just a late bloomer or perhaps Arizona/Utah didn’t do a great job giving him opportunities to develop in their system. The only hiccup is Soderstorm is signed to a two-year deal in the SHL, so he may not join the Blackhawks for a while (if at all).

Raty, who has been in the AHL basically all of the last two seasons, will join the Rockford IceHogs in their quest to stay in the playoff picture down the stretch of the regular season.

Beyond the trade deadline, Davidson also touched on the subject of potential signings of NCAA players Friday. The Blackhawks like have several collegiate players that could sign in the very near future, even some burning their first year of their ELC: Oliver Moore (Minnesota), Sam Rinzel (Minnesota), Ryan Greene (Boston), Aiden Thompson (Denver), and Dominic James (Minnesota-Duluth).

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