Chicago Blackhawks: Two players to buy at the Trade Deadline

The Chicago Blackhawks have money to spend at the NHL Trade Deadline from injuries. Here are two decent moves the team can make.

The Chicago Blackhawks will be playing 13 of their next 17 games on the road. If they can get out of that stretch still in the playoff hunt. It’s safe to consider them a team that might be a buyer near the trade deadline.

Losing Brent Seabrook and Calvin De Haan for the season has freed up cap space for the Blackhawks. Even though Seabrook’s veteran leadership will be missed on the ice, the Blackhawks have room to be buyers at the deadline for the first time in years.

Those injuries also give Adam Boqvist time in the NHL to improve as a player. It’s really helped his development.

Dylan Strome is on the injured reserved list, along with Seabrook and De Haan. It’s likely to see him return very soon. Andrew Shaw is dealing with a concussion still. My guess is to see him back on the ice closer to March.

Both Strome and Shaw make a big impact on the ice. If they can both make a return during the Blackhawks big road stretch, it’ll give me more confidence.

So, with $13,793,333 AAV to mess with, what will Stan Bowman do? As the Blackhawks are missing two defensemen, don’t be shocked if the Blackhawks make a move for one. They don’t need a Top 2 defenseman. They need to add depth.

I could see the Blackhawks making a push for Trevor Van Riemsdyk again. Bowman is known for bringing back old players. He also would be a good fit in the lineup. TVR will be a free agent this summer.

TVR’s remaining $2,300,000 AAV cap hit adds a solid defenseman to the Blackhawks for a cheap price. TVR has only played in 31 games this season. He has had a rough year. It won’t take much to get him away from the Hurricanes as a rental. A third or fourth-round draft pick could be enough. It depends on how much they want.

The Blackhawks also could add a forward. They don’t need a Top 6 forward, they just need to add depth. If they go with TVR, Michael Frolik wouldn’t be a bad move to make either. As we’ve seen, he was traded to the Sabres for a fourth-round pick. The Blackhawks could make the same move for Frolik.

Instead of giving up something big, the Blackhawks could move a third-round pick and maybe a forward prospect from Rockford. Someone who the Blackhawks don’t plan on re-signing.

Frolik is a $4,300,000 AAV cap hit. Since he is a free agent this summer, if they can’t sign him to a solid deal, they could dump him off. Frolik has a 10-team trade list. I’m sure the Blackhawks, his former team, are on that list.

Trading for both of those players adds $6,600,000 AAV to the cap. That still leaves $7,193,333 AAV left on the Blackhawks’ cap. They can choose to use the rest of that on one player, or make a bid at a few more.

I wouldn’t go overboard. The highest draft pick they should move is a third-round pick. I wouldn’t move a first-round pick. If they moved a pick that high, they’d have to be paying that player a lot in the offseason. The money the Blackhawks won’t have.

The trades I’d make are a fourth-round pick for TVR and a third and maybe a sixth-round pick for Frolik. It will come down to how much each team wants.