Insider reports say the Chicago Blackhawks have entered the trade market

The Chicago Blackhawks season has started with some positive and negative takeaways.

A series of bad starts has led to the team falling behind early in games in which were winnable once they found their rhythm.

Once the Blackhawks start playing their game, they are hard on the forecheck and maintain puck possession. The scoring chances have also been coming much easier than last season, though the puck luck has not been.

This has led to players like Philipp Kurashev, who has had only one assist through six games, being scratched against the Vancouver Canucks,

It is apparent that the Blackhawks' roster is still trying to find their chemistry in these early goings of the season, though one area remains a question mark even after the additions made this summer, the second line center.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported on his 32 Thoughts that the Blackhawks, among other teams, are in the market for a centerman.

Addressing the second-line center position was one of the main areas of concern going into this offseason for the Blackhawks. It was expected that players like Frank Nazar, Andreas Athanasiou, and potentially Philipp Kurashev would end up filling that void.

However, it seems as though the Blackhawks would like to explore the idea of bringing in a young center to anchor the second line for now and the future.

It is mentioned in Friedman's post that teams are not lining up to trade away their centers right now, so the pickings may end up being slim if there are options out there for the Blackhawks.

If the market opens up with young centers available, there will likely be a bidding war between the multiple teams currently exploring the market. This could lead to an interesting development if the Blackhawks truly go all-in on filling out the second line center spot.

Many will also wonder what makes sense for the Blackhawks to give up in a hypothetical second-line center trade.

To put it simply, the cost will not be cheap. A young top-six center in the NHL is not an oversaturated commodity and teams who have one are probably valuing them pretty highly.

If, hypothetically, a trade were to happen this season, the Blackhawks would most likely have to start by giving up the Toronto Maple Leafs' first-round pick.

At this point in the rebuild, another late first-round pick's value is probably better used in a deal to bring in talent in order to take the team to the next step. This would only be the start of the trade, though, as they would likely throw in more of their stocked draft capital in a trade as well.

If the Blackhawks are truly making a push to acquire a second-line center, the possibility arises of them trading a prospect to help the deal go through. Rebuilding teams are never quick to trade away their recently drafted prospects, but a trade like this could call for one.

One possibility as well is that a roster player goes the other way, perhaps someone on the younger side to even out the trade further for the other team. Players like Lukas Reichel come to mind, whose future in Chicago has been questioned.

The odds of all those assets being moved (first-round pick, extra picks, prospect, roster player) all at once in one trade are slim to none, and the Blackhawks would be giving up a substansial price. But, it does show how many assets the Blackhawks still have if they try and make a trade in the near future.

It will take some time to see how the trade market pans out, but it will be an interesting development to see what Kyle Davidson decides to do regarding this coveted position.