Potential Trade Targets (2025 edition)

[Northernhawk]

Kakko return was a 27 yr old dman Will Borgen, 3rd and a 5th

Same draft Hawks picked Kirby Dach and traded him for a 1st(Frank Nazar) and a 3rd(Gavin Hayes)…

Whenever I look at a trade where maybe the Hawks could have ‘done a better’ deal I look at Hawk comparibles…

In this case oddly enough the Hawks had none of the variables…no 27 yr old vet dman(Murphy Martinez Brodie older…) no 3rd or 5th rounders in this years draft…

So maybe Kakko wasn’t a fit for the Hawks anyways

 

[BHFAN92]

its amazing that KD is literally never in on young players getting moved for change of scenery. I am convinced that KD is in completely over his head and stuck in "his model" and thinks he is smartest GM in the room just like Ryan Poles of Bears. Its absolutely frustrating to watch other GMs be aggressive while KD is stuck in a specific mindset that has yet to produce anything outside of lucking into Bedsy

 

[GIADF]

its amazing that KD is literally never in on young players getting moved for change of scenery. I am convinced that KD is in completely over his head and stuck in "his model" and thinks he is smartest GM in the room just like Ryan Poles of Bears. Its absolutely frustrating to watch other GMs be aggressive while KD is stuck in a specific mindset that has yet to produce anything outside of lucking into Bedsy

It would be nice to see him in on a move with Buffalo. I'm not the biggest Cozens fan, but if you can poach him for a bargain from there with everything going on... I would be happy to see it, I think.

 

[MHO]

its amazing that KD is literally never in on young players getting moved for change of scenery. I am convinced that KD is in completely over his head and stuck in "his model" and thinks he is smartest GM in the room just like Ryan Poles of Bears. Its absolutely frustrating to watch other GMs be aggressive while KD is stuck in a specific mindset that has yet to produce anything outside of lucking into Bedsy

Do you know for sure that KD wasn't in on that? It's also possible that KD didn't have what the Rangers wanted. Sure the Hawks have draft picks and prospects galore but that isn't always what teams want. The Rangers ended up getting a 27 year old right handed defensemen.

I don't know how good he is but he's old enough to be established in the league, young enough to play for another 10 years, and bad enough to trade away for a reclamation project. The Blackhawks have 4 players on their roster between 24 and 28. They are Kurashev, Soderblom, Anderson, and Donato. They absolutely cannot trade Soderblom at the moment, Kurashev and Anderson wouldn't get the trade done from the Rangers standpoint, and Donato might?

But maybe the Rangers would rather have the youngish RHD instead of Donato.

 

[Northernhawk]

Salary Dumps are where Davidson works his magic

He acquired Jason Dickinson Petr Mrazek Nikita Zaitsev Josh Bailey and Ilya Mikheyev in salary dumps from other teams…all except Bailey became very usefull additions in themselves but came with ADD ONS picks that have or will become significant assets and future tradeable pieces
-Sam Rinzel with Mrazek from TOR
-Roman Kantserov with Zaitsev from OTT
-Pick with Dickinson from VAN used for Sasha Boisvert

 

[Dead Meat]

its amazing that KD is literally never in on young players getting moved for change of scenery.

Who else has he missed on...?

 

[clydesdale line]

its amazing that KD is literally never in on young players getting moved for change of scenery. I am convinced that KD is in completely over his head and stuck in "his model" and thinks he is smartest GM in the room just like Ryan Poles of Bears. Its absolutely frustrating to watch other GMs be aggressive while KD is stuck in a specific mindset that has yet to produce anything outside of lucking into Bedsy

Cozens I can maybe see since he's a bit proven (the contract is not good though) but Kakko? Let Stan Bowman be the one who likes taking on former 1st round pick reclamation projects. I'm glad Kyle doesn't fit into that mold.

 

[BHFAN92]

Who else has he missed on...?

Eeli Tolvanen, Yaroslav Askorov, Cutter Gauthier, Rutger McGroarty, Kaapo Kakko...not saying all these guys are game changers but these are the types KD should 100% in on. Roll the dice on younger guy with draft pedigree and upside and hope they hit ala Patrick Sharp. They need a younger guy who is like early 20s who still has potential but couple years older than the past 3 draft classes. Just feels like KD is sleeping on the job.

 

[MHO]

Eeli Tolvanen, Yaroslav Askorov, Cutter Gauthier, Rutger McGroarty, Kaapo Kakko...not saying all these guys are game changers but these are the types KD should 100% in on. Roll the dice on younger guy with draft pedigree and upside and hope they hit ala Patrick Sharp. They need a younger guy who is like early 20s who still has potential but couple years older than the past 3 draft classes. Just feels like KD is sleeping on the job.

I'm ok on not getting these guys as only Askarov is looking like a guy worth giving up valuable assets for. I get your point but maybe KD hasn't seen the 'right' reclamation project yet.

Also Patrick Sharp was not a reclamation project high a high draft pedigree. He was a 3rd round pick on a crowded roster who was producing in very limited minutes. Believe it or not, he specifically requested a trade to Chicago. It was such a lucky situation for them.

 

[ello]

Cozens I can maybe see since he's a bit proven (the contract is not good though) but Kakko? Let Stan Bowman be the one who likes taking on former 1st round pick reclamation projects. I'm glad Kyle doesn't fit into that mold.

I wouldnt say Kakko is at reclamation project level yet. He's genuinely a strong third liner at this point and scored at the same even strength rate as Kreider this season. Obviously he's been an overall disappointment but the Rangers were probably the worst team that he could've gone to from a developmental perspective.

Reclamation projects are one dimensional guys on their way out of the league like Rundblad and Alex Nylander. Kakko is already a strong 2 way third liner and it's not hard to imagine him developing a scoring touch with more favorable deployment and a system that gives young players the leash they need to grow.

Plus he fetched a worse return then both Rundblad and Nylander so its a bit head scratching that with all of our assets we couldnt have outbid the Kraken. He's already a better player than a lot of our forward prospects are ever going to become

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

I'm ok on not getting these guys as only Askarov is looking like a guy worth giving up valuable assets for. I get your point but maybe KD hasn't seen the 'right' reclamation project yet.

Also Patrick Sharp was not a reclamation project high a high draft pedigree. He was a 3rd round pick on a crowded roster who was producing in very limited minutes. Believe it or not, he specifically requested a trade to Chicago. It was such a lucky situation for them.

Andrew Ladd certainly was though

And Fletcher in Minnesota for some unexplained reasons soured on Leddy pretty quickly after start of his career in NCAA and Hawks jumped on swapping Barker for him and vet top 4 defender (Who of course got hurt and never played in NHL again)

It is true the Hawks have to take some chances on other team's young players in need of change of scenery

Plenty of guys have thrived changing organizations including guys we gave away

 

[giza]

I'm OK with him sticking to the plan----keeping financially flexible and taking advantage of teams that aren't. I'm sure if KD sees a good value at the right age, he would be in on it....he's just not as desperate as Hawk fans at this year.

 

[Northernhawk]

Eeli Tolvanen, Yaroslav Askorov, Cutter Gauthier, Rutger McGroarty, Kaapo Kakko...not saying all these guys are game changers but these are the types KD should 100% in on. Roll the dice on younger guy with draft pedigree and upside and hope they hit ala Patrick Sharp. They need a younger guy who is like early 20s who still has potential but couple years older than the past 3 draft classes. Just feels like KD is sleeping on the job.

You have to look at what those players were traded for…

-Tolvinen was a waiver pick up…so I’m not sure if the Hawks passed on him or if he was grabbed up before Chicago could claim him
-Askorov was for a 3rd string goalie, European prospect and a conditional 1st…so maybe Jaxson Stauber, Janne Peltonen and. 1st?
-Gauthier was acquired for Jamie Drysdale and a 2nd…so would you have traded Alex Vlasic and a 2nd for him?
-McGroarty was traded for Branden Yager…so Oliver Moore?

So instead of having Vlasic, Moore, Stauber, Peltonen, a 1st and a 2nd the Hawks would have Askorov, Gauthier and McGroarty

Those are all ‘What if…’ scenarios…I like AVlasic OMoore and keeping those two picks myself

 

[Dead Meat]

Eeli Tolvanen, Yaroslav Askorov, Cutter Gauthier, Rutger McGroarty, Kaapo Kakko...not saying all these guys are game changers but these are the types KD should 100% in on. Roll the dice on younger guy with draft pedigree and upside and hope they hit ala Patrick Sharp. They need a younger guy who is like early 20s who still has potential but couple years older than the past 3 draft classes. Just feels like KD is sleeping on the job.

I like Askorov a lot but a I don't think the Preds trade him within the division.

 

[EddieTheEagle]

Kakko is the only one that was a cheap price worth paying. Almost no cost, so why not? He doesn't work out, you're not losing sleep over it.

The rest mentioned by @Northernhawk were all too costly or never going to happen.

I believe we will see some pieces get moved for a young NHL player, as we have too many assets in the pipeline.