Chicago Blackhawks Necessary Moves For Next Season

When new Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson recently mentioned that he intends to put the team through a rebuild, it brought up lots of questions.

Who will be traded and who will stay? In a rebuild, the intention of the GM is to accumulate as many assets as possible. That is exactly what the GM of the Arizona Coyotes, Bill Armstrong has been doing.

Perhaps Davidson can emulate Armstrong's rebuilding plan for the Chicago Blackhawks. He will have some very tough and emotional decisions to make going forward.

Two players whom he undoubtedly will need to consider moving are Patrick Kane and captain Jonathan Toews. While fans may not agree with any trades involving either of these star players, to put the rebuild plan into action takes... well ACTION!


As far as where either player may go, it must first be realized that they both possess no movement clauses in their identical $10.5 million contracts which expire after the 2022-23 season.

It will also require the Hawks to retain salary in any deal, since the salary cap only increases by $1 million for next season.

Toews could go to such interested teams as the Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, or Edmonton Oilers. Kane's suitors could include the New York Rangers where he could join up with Artemi Panarin once again. Wouldn't that be a dynamic duo? He could also draw interest from the Colorado Avalanche (like they need more firepower) or even the Los Angeles Kings.

One must also consider, with the current standing of the team at 26th in the league, that they could grab a pretty good player in the draft.

Yet another player who could be gone is Dylan Strome. He has 20 goals, 23 assists in 57 games, so in effect he could be retained. If so, he will be owed a $3.9 million qualifying offer by July 9th.

Keeping Strome may mean slowing down the progress of prospects Kirby Dach and Lukas Reichel. Do they really want to do that?

As for next season, it like perhaps several campaigns after that, will be painful. Rebuilds are never pain free, but losing three high performance forwards may redefine the word 'PAIN'.

The Hawks will look different next season and whether that is an improvement or not is yet to be determined.