The Blackhawks ended up doing the things during NHL trade-deadline week they were expected to do. They just didn’t wait until the deadline Friday afternoon to do them.
Forward Jason Dickinson was traded Wednesday night to the Oilers — a move the veteran center had spent the last month mentally preparing for.
In Edmonton, he will join former Hawks teammate Connor Murphy, who was dealt there Monday after also spending the last month mentally preparing for it.
In the Dickinson deal, Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson managed to convince ex-Hawks-turned-Oilers GM Stan Bowman to give up a 2027 first-round pick — an impressive return. (He received a 2028 second-round pick for Murphy.)
Getting that impressive return, however, required four concessions around the edges.
For one, young forward Colton Dach was sent to the Oilers alongside Dickinson. That might actually be the most surprising part of the Hawks’ deadline week, but it’s hardly shocking nonetheless.
The Hawks also took on overpaid forward Andrew Mangiapane and retained 50% of Dickinson’s $4.25 million salary-cap hit, using up their last remaining retention slot for this season.
And the first-round pick acquired by the Hawks has top-12 protection, meaning it could slide to 2028 if the Oilers miss the playoffs in 2027.
Mangiapane, who has declined tremendously since his 35-goal outburst in 2021-22, signed a two-year contract carrying a $3.6 million cap hit with the Oilers last summer, and it has aged poorly.
The 29-year-old had tallied just 14 points (and poor analytics) in 52 NHL games this season before clearing waivers and going down to the AHL on Monday.
The Hawks could keep Mangiapane as a reclamation project or AHL scorer. But they could buy him out this summer instead, which would incur a $2.93 million cap hit next season and a $333,000 cap hit the following season. That wouldn’t be an issue with their abundance of cap space.
Dickinson’s Hawks tenure ends after four seasons, during which he brought stability to the team’s third-line center role and handled their toughest defensive matchups.
The pending free agent finishes with 44 goals and 50 assists in 266 games as a Hawk, with half of those goals coming in his unrepeated 2023-24 offensive breakout season.
Wins were scarce during his Hawks tenure, but he seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. His intelligent, analytical mind made him a valuable resource in the locker room, too.
He said Wednesday he would enjoy an opportunity to return to the playoffs, which the Oilers likely will provide.
“I think my game is well-built for playoffs,” Dickinson said. “It’s simple. It’s direct. Teams can want something like that to bolster depth and give them strength on the [penalty kill] instead of big-fish hunting for a dynamic player.”
Dach, an Edmonton native originally drafted by Bowman, had waffled in and out of the Hawks’ lineup since January and exited the Olympic break expressing a desire to earn more playing time.
He tallied nine points and a team-leading 189 hits in 53 games. That physicality will be missed, but Landon Slaggert — who can kill penalties — had already leapfrogged him in the hierarchy, and a number of incoming prospects would’ve likely done the same soon.
With Mangiapane coming back, that last note is important. The Hawks still needed to accomplish their overarching deadline objective of freeing up roster spots for soon-to-arrive forwards Anton Frondell and Sacha Boisvert (not to mention Nick Lardis).
And eventually, forward prospect AJ Spellacy, who will turn pro next season, should be able to provide the same physicality Dach did.
With two days left until the deadline, the only remaining question is whether Davidson will do anything more. Trading forward Ilya Mikheyev remains a possibility, but the lack of a salary-retention slot would complicate it.
Boisvert’s performance at Boston University hasn’t lived up to expectations, but the Hawks still plan to sign him imminently, believing his hard-nosed game could fit well in the NHL.
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The Hawks’ agonizing 3-2 defeat Tuesday marked the ninth time this season they’ve conceded a game-tying or game-winning goal in the last four minutes of the third period.
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Connor Murphy’s departure shifts the spotlight of Hawks trade speculation onto Dickinson, another pending free agent who could be moved out before Friday’s deadline.
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