With a 15-29-5 record, and less than a month to go before the NHL trade deadline, all eyes will be on Chicago in the coming weeks.
The Blackhawks sit in 31st place in the league, and are squarely in the mix for the Connor Bedard sweepstakes. However contending teams are paying close attention to what the organization plans to do with veteran forwards Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews as March 3rd draws closer.
The two formed the core of Chicago’s championship roster which captured 3 Stanley Cups in a 6 year span. However since they last hoisted the cup, the club has been on a downward trajectory, with only 3 first round exits and several postseason misses to show for their efforts since 2015.
Both players are in the final years of identical 8yr/$84M contracts which sees them paid $10.5M annually. While it would take some financial manoeuvring for a contender to fit either under the salary cap, that hasn’t stopped a host of teams checking in on the availability of 3x Stanley Cup champions in recent weeks.
Toews, 34, has seen his point total decline each year since the 2018-2019 campaign. Currently sitting at 28pts (14G, 14A) across 46 contests, he remains an attractive option for contending clubs due to his leadership qualities, and ability to play in a variety of situations.
Meanwhile Kane, also 34, is one year removed from a 92pt (26G, 66A) season across 78 contests, but has struggled to find consistency with the fledgling Blackhawks roster in 2022-23. With only 35pts (9G, 26A) in 46 games, his 0.76ppg average would be the lowest output of his career if the season were to end today.
Nevertheless, his scoring drought has likely more to do with his surrounding cast than it does his current skill set. Kane is currently riding shotgun on Chicago’s topline which features Tyler Johnson and Jason Dickinson as linemates.
Should the Buffalo, NY native have a change of scenery next month, most NHL executives have no doubt that his production would increase on a more skilled roster.
For his part, Kane has remained non-committal about leaving the only franchise he’s ever played for in the NHL. When asked about what the future held for him this week, he told reporters “I don’t know. It’s tough to decide if we’re getting to that point yet, so I think there are definitely opportunities out there that are intriguing and could be exciting. We’ll see.”
“We talked about it in the summer with Pat…We’ll just probably be taking it up to the deadline and making a decision. I mean, he’s told me a few that have reached out to him. So yeah, we’ll probably talk about that possibly too, if that’s an option of getting traded and obviously figure out a team that could be the best fit. But we’re not really at that point either.”
While Chicago is wrestling with the idea of trading their two star players and kick starting their rebuild process versus keeping them and having them retire as Blackhawks, ultimately the decisions lay with the players as each sport no-movement clauses in their deals.
Amongst those who have shown interest in Kane ahead of deadline day are the New York Rangers, Dallas Stars and Buffalo Sabres. In all likelihood, if either Chicago sports icon ultimately gets moved, the Blackhawks will need to retain salary in order to facilitate a deal.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Seth Anderson. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.