Every trade Kyle Davidson has made since becoming Blackhawks general manager has fit specific criteria.
Does it give the Blackhawks a player, prospect or draft pick that could potentially help them in 3 to 6 years?
Does it likely worsen, or at most slightly improve, the Blackhawks in the present and near future?
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From his first trade on, you can apply those questions and understand his thinking behind them. That’s not to say he’s right or wrong — the future will determine that — but he’s certainly stuck to his philosophy so far.
You can add Friday’s late-night trade of defenseman Riley Stillman to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Jason Dickinson and a 2024 second-round draft pick to the pile.
Davidson mentioned at the start of training camp that he’d be open to using some of the Blackhawks’ cap space to take on another team’s contract. If it made sense for the future, Davidson would listen.
The Canucks came calling. They had to shed some cap space before the opener and were willing to make it worth the Blackhawks’ while. In exchange for Stillman and a difference of $1.3 million, Davidson added a second-round draft pick and Dickinson. Davidson won’t have any trouble fitting in Dickinson’s $2.65-million cap hit for two years.
After taking three players in the first round and two in the second round at the 2022 draft, the Blackhawks now have two selections in the first and second rounds in 2023 and 2024. That’s a total of seven first-rounders and six second-rounders from 2022-2024. Not all 13 players will likely be hits, but the Blackhawks have to feel better about their prospect pool.
Which brings us to this year’s team. Dickinson may fit fine in a bottom-six role, but he isn’t likely to elevate what this team is expected to be. The goal is to be the worst team in the league and be in position to draft Connor Bedard, Matvei Michkov or Adam Fantilli next June. Blackhawks hockey operations staff has already been spotted at numerous Bedard games this season.
It’s not even that the Blackhawks disliked Stillman. He just wasn’t pegged to be part of the future. If he stayed for the remainder of his contract, he would have served a purpose as a third-pairing defenseman. (The fact isn’t lost that Davidson has moved on from Stillman, Brett Connolly and Henrik Borgstrom, who were all acquired in one trade by Stan Bowman in April 2021).
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There are plenty of defensemen to fill Stillman’s space. You can expect Seth Jones, Connor Murphy, Jake McCabe, Caleb Jones and Jack Johnson to be five definitive NHL defensemen this season and it looks Filip Roos and Alec Regula could be the next two. Roos is likely to remain in the NHL largely because of his contract. He is still technically under contract in the SHL. His SHL club, Skellefteå, allowed him to sign with the Blackhawks with the assumption he’d be in the NHL. If the Blackhawks want to send Roos to the AHL, they’d have to get Skellefteå’s permission. Skellefteå could have Roos return to Sweden.
Roos and Regula could be part of the Blackhawks’ future, but it’s going to be up them to prove that this season. Right now, the Blackhawks are more optimistic about Isaak Phillips and Alex Vlasic, which is why they’ll likely prioritize their development this season and spend more time in Rockford where they can play 20-plus minutes every game. Phillips, Vlasic, forward Lukas Reichel and goalie Arvid Soderblom, who could all be in Rockford for a majority of this season, are envisioned to be part of the rebuild.
Davidson is still in a favorable cap position after the trade. Even with Duncan Keith’s unexpected recapture penalty of $5,538,462 in play this season, Davidson has plenty of space. The Blackhawks should have about $7 million in space at the deadline. They could have much more if Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane seek to be traded, even if the Blackhawks retain half of their hits, and if they move Max Domi and/or Andreas Athanasiou, who each have $3 million cap hits. That could lead to many assets for Davidson.
(Photo: Chase Agnello-Dean / NHLI via Getty Images)
