Yahoo Sports 4 Underrated Blackhawks Trades of the Past 4 Years
The Chicago Blackhawks are usually pretty busy on the trade market and there have been a lot of good and bad. Some trades are forgotten about or fly under the radar though, so below we are going to take a look at four trades by the Blackhawks over the past four years that were underrated now that there has been a little time to see the pieces fall into place.
Blackhawks Trade With Senators
The most recent underrated trade the Blackhawks made came on Feb. 22, 2023, a little bit before the trade deadline. Chicago was in a rebuild, so they were in the business of taking on bad contracts and getting assets. That is exactly what happened in a trade with the Ottawa Senators.
The Blackhawks took on the final year and a bit of Nikita Zaitsev's contract at over $4 million AAV and received a 2023 2nd round and 2026 4th round for future considerations in return. Taking on a bad contract for just over a year while at the depths of the league didn't have any negative impact on the Blackhawks. In fact, it allowed the defensive prospects to have a little more time to develop and we are seeing more than one of them blossom this season because of that extra time.
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The 2023 2nd round pick that the Blackhawks acquired turned into roman Kantserov, who at 20 years old, has 12 goals and 23 points in 23 games in the KHL. He is tracking very well and when he hopefully heads to the NHL, will be a developed and impactful piece up front.
Blackhawks Trade With Canucks
On Oct. 7, 2022, before the season, the Blackhawks acquired Jason Dickinson and a 2024 2nd round pick from the Vancouver Canucks for Riley Stillman. This was another player dump and it couldn't have turned out better for Chicago.
Dickinson has broken out offensively on the Blackhawks while being a stellar two-way player. He is a bright spot to a weaker center group that the team has and Chicago got a high draft pick on top of it. The pick was used as part of a draft pick package to upgrade in 2024 to select Sacha Boisvert, one of the team's top prospects, so it was a big win.
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Stillman played 32 games for the Canucks, got traded to the Buffalo Sabres and played in 18 games. He hasn't played in the NHL since 2022-23. Chicago re-signed Dickinson and he has received Selke Trophy votes. Stillman couldn't even stay in the league for long after.
Blackhawks Trade With Maple Leafs
Just a couple of months before that previous trade, the Blackhawks took on Petr Mrazek's contract from the Toronto Maple Leafs. That turned into a mistake for Toronto and a huge win for Chicago. Mrazek has been the starter since the trade was made during the summer of 2022 (July 7).
While bringing in Mrazek, the Blackhawks also got a later 2022 1st round pick in exchange for a higher 2022 2nd round pick. Chicago drafted Sam Rinzel with their selection while the Maple Leafs drafted Fraser Minten.
Rinzel is one of the Blackhawks' top prospects and has nine goals and 24 points in 24 games at the University of Minnesota. Minten isn't a bad prospect by any stretch, but has five goals and 10 points in 16 AHL games this season along with two goals and four points in 11 games for Toronto. Even if they both have a similar impact on their teams over their careers, the Blackhawks then got a starting goalie for free.
Blackhawks Trade With Golden Knights
On April 12, 2021, the Blackhawks traded away Nick DeSimone to the Vegas Golden Knights and the return was much better than expected. Chicago got a 2021 2nd round pick and a 2022 3rd round pick. Headed to Vegas alongside DeSimone was a 2022 5th round pick.
The Blackhawks selected Colton Dach and Samuel Savoie with their picks in that trade while the 5th round pick ended up turning into Nikita Grebenkin.
Colton Dach is now an NHL player, is young, and appears like he is going to get a whole lot better than where he is at right now. DeSimone has played two games for the Utah Hockey Club this season and Vegas doesn't have Grebenkin. Savoie isn't anything special, but the Blackhawks still have him in the AHL.
These trades may have flown under the radar for the most part, but now that we can see some of the deals paying off like Dach, Dickinson, and Mrazek for starters, more attention should be brought to them.
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