CHICAGO — Connor Murphy was always the most likely Chicago Blackhawks player to be traded, so it was no surprise he was the first one dealt before Friday’s NHL trade deadline.
The Blackhawks could have waited to see if they could get a better offer for Murphy, but they received what they wanted in a second-round pick and found a good landing spot for Murphy to make the playoffs with the Edmonton Oilers, who have an 81 percent chance of making the cut. The Blackhawks wanted to do right by Murphy after he remained so positive during some tough rebuilding years.
Here’s what else I’m hearing and seeing around the Blackhawks before the 2 p.m. CT Friday deadline:
• Based on one game without Murphy, it appears Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill plans to give Sam Rinzel, Louis Crevier and Alex Vlasic more responsibility. Rinzel played a season-high 20:12 of five-on-five ice time Tuesday. Vlasic started a season-high 18 defensive-zone faceoffs. His previous high was 12. Crevier started a season-high 15 defensive-zone faceoffs. His previous high was nine.
• Three goals seem to be the magic number for the Blackhawks lately. Since Connor Bedard returned from injury on Jan. 9, they’ve gone 5-10-3. Of those 18 games, they’ve gone 4-0-1 when they’ve scored three or more goals and 1-10-2 when they’ve scored fewer than three.
• The Blackhawks’ goalie tandem of Spencer Knight and Arvid Söderblom has been solid throughout that 18-game stretch, too. The Blackhawks have had the 15th-highest save percentage over that span.
• Jason Dickinson is the most likely Blackhawks player to be traded before the deadline. Though there has been some interest in him, it’s not a sure thing he’ll be dealt. The Blackhawks aren’t going to take just anything for him. They don’t see a point in acquiring a late-round pick simply to move him. He’s still playing a key role and takes some of the pressure off the team’s young centers.
• Ilya Mikheyev could also still be traded. As with Dickinson, it would have to be the right offer to make a Mikheyev trade worthwhile. There is also still an outside chance the Blackhawks will re-sign Mikheyev. He turned down their latest offer, but the talks aren’t necessarily dead.
• If the Blackhawks move Dickinson, Ryan Greene is the logical player to replace him in that shutdown center role. Outside of Dickinson, Greene has taken most of the defensive-zone and short-handed faceoffs for the Blackhawks. Oliver Moore is another potential option, but he has taken just 35 defensive-zone faceoffs in 49 games.
• Of course, moving Greene into that role would take him off the Blackhawks’ top line alongside Bedard. With 363 minutes of five-on-five ice together, Greene has been Bedard’s second-most-frequent linemate this season. The Blackhawks have outscored opponents 23-17 with them on the ice together.
• Over Bedard’s three seasons, his most frequent linemates have been Philipp Kurashev (968:55), Ryan Donato (698:34), Tyler Bertuzzi (599:19), Nick Foligno (586:49), André Burakovsky (445:16), Greene (363:24), Mikheyev (341:48), Frank Nazar (341:16) and Teuvo Teräväinen (296:16).
• There is probably a better argument to keep Greene as Bedard’s linemate over Burakovsky based on their recent play. In the 18 games since Bedard’s return, Greene has three goals and two assists, both primary, in five-on-five play, and Burakovsky has produced zero goals and one assist, which was a primary. Fifteen players have produced more than Burakovsky at five-on-five during that span.
• For those wondering, it’s unlikely the Blackhawks will consider buying out Burakovsky after this season. Part of the reason they acquired him was that his contract would help them to the cap floor next season. If they buy him out, his cap hit would be $3 million next season instead of $5.5 million. But unless Burakovsky turns it around, he could get similar treatment to Andreas Athanasiou next season: less ice time, which could lead to healthy scratches and an AHL demotion. Among Anton Frondell, Roman Kantserov and Nick Lardis, the Blackhawks could have more top-six options for next season.
• Might Frondell join the Blackhawks before the end of this season? That depends on how far Djurgårdens goes in the SHL playoffs. The team is in ninth place and is likely to finish in that range. That will put it in a best-of-three playoff series, which will start the week of March 15. If Djurgårdens loses in that round, Frondell’s arrival could come around the week of March 22. The Blackhawks have a home game March 22, then hit the road for four games on the East Coast. If Djurgårdens advances, the next rounds are best-of-seven series.
• The Blackhawks also remain hopeful Kantserov will join them next season. There haven’t been any discussions yet because Kantserov is under contract in the KHL until the end of the season. He hasn’t re-signed with his KHL team, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, and has been receptive to communicating with the Blackhawks development staff, which seems like a positive sign. The Blackhawks believe Kantserov can step in and play a significant role next season. You can expect that belief, along with an entry-level contract full of performance bonuses, to be their pitch.
• The Blackhawks will likely discuss the possibility of forward prospects Sacha Boisvert and John Mustard turning pro after their college seasons. At Boston University, Boisvert hasn’t had the sophomore season he hoped for and has produced just two assists in his last nine games. The Blackhawks still believe in Boisvert and likely wouldn’t object if he wanted to sign. Mustard has taken a step in his sophomore season at Providence. He’s especially been good lately, scoring in five of his last seven games. The Blackhawks have some flexibility because both are sophomores, but the organization will be aggressive in trying to sign prospects it feels are ready to make the jump.
• It appears the Florida Panthers could be trying to keep their first-round pick this year. From last year’s Seth Jones trade, the Blackhawks acquired the Panthers’ 2026 first-round pick, but it is top-10 protected, meaning Florida will hang on to it if it’s among the draft’s first 10 picks, then send its unprotected 2027 first-round pick to Chicago. The Panthers have the ninth-worst points percentage in the league. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported Wednesday that they decided to become sellers at the deadline. A few teams are just ahead of the Panthers in the standings, so a lot could still happen, and there is the unpredictability of the actual lottery. We’ll see how it plays out.
