Feels like we’re past the total teardown portion of this whole rebuild the Hawks have been embarking upon for several seasons now, so let’s take a moment to see what an NHL team can obtain by spending a few seasons selling off anything of value at multiple trade deadlines, which should give us a better sense of what Chicago added by heading down this path. If we pinpoint the start of this process as beginning during the 2021-22 season, keep in mind that the team that was sold off for parts finished 27th in the league standings.
The trades below all occurred after Kyle Davidson earned the official GM tag on March 1, 2022. A few trades have been omitted because they were irrelevant to this process, and a few deals have had exterior pieces removed because they were also deemed irrelevant to this discussion.
Here’s the list:
| Date | Dealt | Partner | Acquired | Draft Picks |
| 3/18/2022 | Brandon Hagel | TBL | Boris Katchouk Taylor Raddysh 2023 1st Round 2024 1st Round | Oliver Moore Sacha Boisvert |
| 3/21/2022 | Ryan Carpenter | CAL | 2024 5th Round | Joel Svensson |
| 3/21/2022 | Marc-Andre Fleury | MIN | 2022 2nd Round* | Ryan Greene |
| 7/7/2022 | 2022 2nd Round | TOR | Petr Mrazek 2022 1st Round | Sam Rinzel |
| 7/7/2022 | Kirby Dach | MTL | 2022 1st Round 2022 3rd Round | Frank Nazar Gavin Hayes |
| 7/7/2022 | Alex DeBrincat | OTT | 2022 1st Round 2022 2nd Round 2024 3rd Round | Kevin Korchinski Paul Ludwinski AJ Spellacy |
| 10/7/2022 | Riley Stillman | VAN | Jason Dickinson 2024 2nd Round | Used to trade up for Sacha Boisvert |
| 2/22/2023 | Future considerations | OTT | Nikita Zaitsev 2023 2nd Round 2026 4th Round | Roman Kantserov TBD |
| 2/27/2023 | Jake McCabe, Sam Lafferty, 2024 5th Round, 2025 3rd Round | TOR | 2025 1st Round 2026 2nd Round | Vaclav Nestrasil TBD |
| 2/28/2023 | Patrick Kane | NYR | 2023 2nd Round 2025 4th Round | Martin Misiak Parker Holmes |
| 3/2/2023 | Max Domi | DAL | Anton Khudobin 2025 2nd Round | Used to trade up for Mason West |
| 6/6/2024 | 2027 4th Round | VAN | Ilya Mikheyev Sam Lafferty 2027 2nd Round | TBD |
| 1/24/2025 | Taylor Hall | CAR | 2025 3rd Round | Nathan Behm |
| 3/1/2025 | Seth Jones, 2026 4th Round | FLA | Spencer Knight, conditional 2026 1st Round | TBD |
| 10/24/2025 | Lukas Reichel | VAN | 2027 4th Round | TBD |
| 3/2/2026 | Connor Murphy | EDM | 2028 2nd Round | TBD |
| 3/4/2026 | Jason Dickinson, Colton Dach | EDM | 2027 1st Round Andrew Mangiapane | TBD |
It’s interesting to be reminded of the returns from trades that happened several years ago: Brandon Hagel became Oliver Moore and Sacha Boisvert (remember Raddysh and Katchouk? What a time!). Marc-Andre Fleury became Ryan Greene. Taking on the contract of Nikita Zaitsev became Roman Kantserov. There is some clear value in there, based on the way those prospects are trending. The Alex DeBrincat trade isn’t currently trending as well, and neither are the returns in the Patrick Kane trade. Not that those trades shouldn’t have happened, it’s just interesting to re-examine those moves with the benefit of hindsight.
I don’t really have a specific point to be made here, because much of this remains a work in progress. This just felt like a good time to reflect on what’s transpired over the last several years. It’s certainly understandable why a team would head down this road, as there are a slew of additional draft picks there in addition to the ones Chicago racked up near the top of each round while toiling near the bottom of the league standings. Having that many pieces of the puzzle to work with certainly suggests there’s a quality NHL team to be assembled with all of them.
Will it all be worth it in the end, though? We’re still TBD on that as well.
The Week That Was
Thursday, March 12: Blackhawks 3, Mammoth 2
Do not have a good explanation for what it is the Hawks do that makes them such a problem for the Mammoth. Feels like more of a season-long anomaly than anything else, though.
Saturday, March 14: Golden Knights 4, Blackhawks 0
The obvious explanation here is that the Hawks spent too much time out on the Vegas Strip Friday night, resulting in this poor display on Saturday but, given what we’ve heard about this younger generation of NHL players, are we sure that was the case?
Tuesday, March 17: Wild 4, Blackhawks 3
Minnesota looks like a legitimately good NHL team, but that path through the Central Division in the postseason still seems like one it’ll have significant issues in navigating.
The Weight
As mentioned in Tuesday’s recap, Frank Nazar is back to a surge of production in recent weeks with 10 points (4 G, 6 A) in the last 7 games, much more in line with the 20 points (5 G, 15 A) he tallied in the first 25 games of the season. He’s currently at 34 points (11 G, 23 A) in 51 games for the season, which projects to about 55 points over a full 82. That’s not bad for a No. 13 overall pick in his second professional season and first full NHL one, given that he spent roughly one-third of last season in the AHL.
There are some positive trends — albeit smaller ones in a few cases — among the possession metrics from last season to this one: his shot attempt share went from 43.28 percent to 45.12, his high-danger chance share went from 41.63 percent to 42.02, his shot share went from 42.69 percent to 44.89 and his expected goal share went from 42.46 percent to 43.07. In all, the Hawks have scored 28 goals at 5-on-5 with Nazar on the ice and allowed 32, which still isn’t great overall but is decent enough on a team near the bottom of the standings. For comparison’s sake, Bedard is even 43-43.
We’ll likely dive deeper into this in the offseason but, if there’s one other encouraging area of Nazar’s game, it’s how well he’s played in the defensive zone and in the transition game. Just looked at all the blue on the bottom of Nazar’s player card from Corey Sznajder’s All Three Zones project:
Nazar enters the offensive zone as well as about anyone in the league and he can do it by himself or with a pass. In the defensive zone, if the puck ends up on his stick, it’s often heading out of the zone next. More blue lines with deeper shades would be preferred in the offensive sections of the card above, but there are still enough positives to be drawn from Nazar’s overall season to offer encouragement that even better seasons are ahead for a player who’ll need to live up to the massive salary raise he’ll encounter starting next season.
The Week That Will Be
Thursday, March 19: Blackhawks at Wild
If the Hawks lose this game 4-3 in overtime, then perhaps we should consider this league is scripted after all.
Friday, March 20: Blackhawks vs. Avalanche
Still wonder if the Hawks will figure this all out in time to have to deal with the prime years of Makar and MacKinnon. Currently leaning against it!
Sunday, March 22: Blackhawks vs. Predators
Yawn.
Tuesday, March 24: Blackhawks at Islanders
That Schaefer kid sure is something, eh?
(Author’s note: We’ll take a break from this series next week while out of town and be back on your radar the following week!)