Blackhawks Acquire Familiar Face, Top Winger In Pre-Draft Robbery

Since Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson took office a few years ago, he’s made his money primarily through the draft, building a prospect pool that ranks among the best in the NHL while remaining focused on building a contender years down the road. This year, with the NHL Draft not set to take place until Friday, Davidson couldn’t wait that long before taking advantage of the rest of the league.

Chicago needed to spend around $10 million more in cap dollars to even reach the salary floor, and what better way to weaponize that abundance of space by taking advantage of teams without that luxury? By trading with the Blackhawks, the Canucks are offloading $4.75 million in each of the next two years on the contract of Ilya Mikheyev.

The Russian forward isn’t simply a cap dump for the Blackhawks, either. He’s just 29 years old and figures to serve as a second-line winger as Chicago ushers in the next generation of forwards. He tallied 30 points in Vancouver last season and is a great all-around winger with solid production on both ends of the ice. Mikheyev comes to the Blackhawks in a similar situation as Jason Dickinson did in 2022 and is a strong candidate to play on the same line. The Canucks are even retaining 15 percent of Mikheyev’s contract.

The deal also includes a familiar face for Blackhawks fans – Sam Lafferty. The winger spent just over a year in Chicago, where he was a fairly productive scorer before being traded along with Jake McCabe to Toronto. Lafferty can’t get too comfortable in the city just yet, though, as he’s an unrestricted free agent this summer. With the market opening July 1, the Blackhawks have the first crack at signing him over the next few days if Lafferty is willing to. If brought back, he could serve as a great bottom-line forward alongside players like Landon Slaggert and Joey Anderson.

As if the two solid assets weren’t enough to take on Mikheyev’s contract, the Blackhawks were able to squeeze out a nice 2027 pick swap. They grabbed Vancouver’s second-rounder while giving up a fourth. Davidson mentioned in his media availability after the trade that he hopes the team will be in contention by then and plans to eventually move the pick again.