The Chicago Blackhawks looked to have made some progress this season. And to some extent, they’ve. Goaltender Spencer Knight is fifth within the NHL for WAR amongst goalies, in line with Evolving Hockey. Prior to an injury in mid-December, Connor Bedard was establishing himself as an MVP candidate. Unfortunately, though, none of this has been enough for Chicago.
The Blackhawks will come out of the NHL’s Olympic break 10 points out of a playoff spot. They trail the San Jose Sharks, the team directly above them within the Wild Card race, by five points. All signs point to the Blackhawks once more missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
And to be fair, that result wasn’t entirely unexpected heading into this season. Latest head coach Jeff Blashill is tasked with getting this team to the playoffs. But expectations were that it’d take a few seasons. Progress is the important mandate, and Blashill is delivering on that for essentially the most part.
The 2026 NHL Trade Deadline is almost upon us, coming around on March sixth. This will likely be Chicago’s final opportunity to dump some pieces from its roster and add draft pick capital for the summer. Thankfully, they do have one trade candidate who could attract some interest once the deadline rolls around next month.
Blackhawks could reap advantages from Andre Burakovsky trade
Andre Burakovsky joined the Blackhawks through trade back in the summertime. The Seattle Kraken sent the veteran winger to the Windy City in exchange for Joe Veleno. The trade essentially ended up being a freebie for Chicago, as Veleno was bought out by the Kraken shortly after the deal went down.
Chicago would be grateful for the deal either way. Burakovsky has had a slightly solid season with the Blackhawks. He has already matched his goal total from the 2024-25 campaign. And he’s seven points away from matching his point total. He’s currently on pace to complete the season with 46 points, which could be his best point total since 2021-22.
The trade market this season is sort of thin on wingers, especially on the subject of rentals. Burakovsky isn’t a rental, but at the identical time, he is not signed long-term. The 31-year-old Swede is signed through next season at a cap hit of $5.5 million.
This is sort of the beefy cap hit, however the Blackhawks have two of their three retention slots available. Seth Jones is taking on one, but Chicago can retain as much as 50% of Burakovsky’s salary to maximise a return in any potential trade.
If Chicago selected to do that, Burakovsky would only count for $2.75 million against the cap. That is an amount that many contending teams could fit into their salary cap structure. And it will also put Burakovsky on the table as a really attractive trade candidate.
There are actually concerns in regards to the veteran winger. As an example, he isn’t great defensively and, in reality, leads all Blackhawks forwards with the very best goals allowed per 60 minutes, per Evolving Hockey. Still, the offense is promising, as he has the second-highest expected goals per 60 amongst Chicago forwards.
The Blackhawks actually have more obvious trade candidates on the roster. Pending free agent Connor Murphy is one player who stands out. Nevertheless, Chicago should go for value on the trade market this yr. An Andre Burakovsky trade may herald essentially the most value of any player the team could realistically trade.