Blackhawks' trade negotiations might benefit from playoff logjam in Eastern Conference
As usual, the Blackhawks will be sellers during the NHL trade-deadline season. That’s nothing new.
But what is new — and what might be to their benefit — is the relative lack of other sellers around the league.
That stems largely from the logjam of mediocrity in the battle for the Eastern Conference’s wild-card spots. Eight teams vying for the two spots are clustered within five points and the gap between the playoff cutoff line and last place is only 11 points.
None of the teams is particularly good, with the cutoff line on track to be only 91 points. But they’re all equally mediocre and, therefore, all in the race. The crowdedness might turn it into an arms race, too, as the Bruins, Red Wings and Rangers try to avoid getting squeezed out by the upstart Blue Jackets, Senators and Canadiens.
The Sabres and Islanders are the only two Eastern Conference teams realistically not in contention who might be sellers before the March 7 deadline.
The Western Conference features a bigger, more typical gap between the bubble teams and the basement teams. Seven playoff spots seem locked up, with the Flames, Canucks and Blues competing for the eighth spot. Utah’s recent slump might have knocked it into the sellers group with the Ducks, Kraken, Predators, Sharks and Hawks.
Still, there are fewer total sellers than usual, which means there will be fewer players available for contenders to acquire. And there are just as many, if not more, contenders than usual. It wouldn’t be a trade deadline without the Maple Leafs, for example, being linked to a dozen guys.
And it doesn’t take an economics degree to understand low supply and high demand increases prices.
All eyes are on the Canucks right now. The reported falling-out between Canucks stars Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller seems to be worsening and has landed both on the trade market, even though the Canucks won’t be conventional sellers.
Once that saga is resolved, the Hawks could swing into action. They have a plethora of pending free agents — Taylor Hall, Ryan Donato, Pat Maroon, Alec Martinez and Craig Smith — to offer as rentals.
Hall already has said he expects to be traded, and his name, history of productivity and skating ability will make him semi-relevant. Maroon and Martinez might appeal to contenders because they’ve each won three Stanley Cups.
Donato is on pace for a career-high 24 goals and fits a type that always seems to be in-demand around the deadline: versatile, hardworking, consistent bottom-six forwards. The Hawks capitalized on that two years ago, when they essentially got a second-round pick for Sam Lafferty.
Those are the most likely Hawks to move, and negotiations around them should be straightforward for general manager Kyle Davidson. But it seems increasingly possible Davidson is keeping his mind open to other deals, too.
Seth Jones, Lukas Reichel and Connor Murphy are three Hawks with time left on their contracts who are starting to create some buzz.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported Friday the Hawks are receiving calls about Jones, although they’re not actively shopping him. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported basically the same thing Thursday about Reichel. And Murphy’s $4.4 million salary-cap hit with 1.5 years left on his deal is appealing.
There are plenty of complicating factors with the two defensemen, including Jones’ contract ($9.5 million cap hit through 2030), Murphy’s health (currently out with a groin injury) and their leadership roles. With Reichel, the question is whether his value is significant enough to make trading a young player who theoretically still can become part of the Hawks’ future worthwhile.
Still, the Hawks might be wise to capitalize on their larger-than-normal slice of the sellers’ pie, and sweeping changes to their underperforming roster might not be a bad thing. The next six weeks might be interesting.