The 2026 Winter Olympics are over and suddenly the NHL Trade Deadline is upon us!
The Chicago Blackhawks are clearly out of the playoff race, and while I’m not a big fan of trading key players, here are three Blackhawks who could be traded before the deadline.
Connor Murphy
If you were to create the average NHL trade deadline acquisition in a laboratory, it would be Connor Murphy. He’s a 6-foot-2 right-shot defenseman on an expiring deal earning just under $5 million.
The old Blackhawk is also the perfect chip at the trade deadline due to his age. At 32 years old, an extension would be a bit unusual for the Blackhawks’ timeline, and I think a team in win-now mode would be more willing to offer him that.
Murphy played in all 57 games for Chicago, scoring four goals and eight assists for a total of twelve points in those games.
The underlying numbers for Murphy aren’t great. He has lost his minutes this season due to an expected targets for percentage (xGF%) of 45.44, which is to be expected for defensemen on lottery teams. In fact, the Blackhawks have iced twelve different pairs for more than 50 minutes this season, and only two of them have broken their minutes at least evenly.
The two couples who did it were Matt Grzelcyk and Louis Crevier, who posted a 57.7 xGF%, and Sam Rinzel and Wyatt Kaiser, who posted an even 50 xGF%.
Related: Blackhawks’ Vlasic and Crevier build strong partnership as top-shutdown defensive pairing
Murphy could be a valuable addition for teams looking to upgrade their right side, which is the deadline for most teams.
In terms of what the Blackhawks can get, I think they can get a second-round pick for him. Prices for defenders tend to increase as the deadline approaches, especially guys who play on the right side and have size. I guess Blackhawks fans should hope for a second.
Jason Dickinson
Jason Dickinson has been used in many different situations for the Blackhawks this season. The 30-year-old, on an expiring deal, is currently a third-line center and part of the first penalty-kill unit.
With Dickinson making $4.25 million this season, I suspect the Blackhawks would have to use one of their two remaining retention slots. If general manager (GM) Kyle Davidson retains half of his contract, Dickinson will be much more palatable at nearly $2 million than he is now at an expensive $4.25 million.
Dickinson hasn’t been able to repeat the career-high 22-goal season he had a few years ago, but he is one goal away from matching the seven in 59 games he had last season. In the 43 games he played this season, he scored six goals and provided seven assists.
Since Dickinson could play on the penalty kill and wasn’t too bad at the faceoff spot, he posted a Face-off percentage of 51.28GMs could value him as a depth piece for their roster.
This deal wouldn’t make a profit for the Blackhawks, but I could see Davidson getting a third or fourth round pick for the veteran center.
Ilya Mikheev
You’ll notice a trend in my three picks, in that they all have expiring deals. Ilya Mikheyev is making over $4 million this season and will be a free agent in the summer.
Mikheyev scored eleven goals and provided twelve assists in 52 games this season. Teams looking to add some depth to their forward core in a playoff push could consider Mikheyev as a possible option if they have limited resources.
While his numbers don’t jump off the page, Mikheyev can be a defensively responsible winger who takes penalties and adds speed to lineups. All three of these things are attractive to GMs looking to strengthen their front group before the playoffs.
This also opens up some room for some younger Blackhawks, like Nick Lardis for example, to get some more NHL playing time before the season comes to an end.
I don’t think Mikheyev brings huge assets to Chicago, but like Dickinson, I can definitely see something like a fourth-round pick being available for Davidson.
I know it’s not exciting for fans to have a mid-round pick, but this is what the Blackhawks need to do. They’re not trading any of the core pieces because they’re all going to be part of the future, so you have to pull from deep what you can from the roster of those on expiring deals.
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