3 Roster Moves the Chicago Blackhawks Should Make After Demoting Lukas Reichel

Try to acquire Kaapo Kakko

Blackhawks fans were hoping the franchise would acquire Andrei Kuzmenko from Vancouver. The talented winger ended up being traded to Calgary as a part of the Elias Lindholm trade.

The reason for hope that Chicago would get Kuzmenko was he was a talented, young, and accomplished offensive player who fell out of favor with his organization. The hope was to pair him up with Connor Bedard and Phillip Kurashev to form an outstanding first line.

Now that dream is dead, it does not mean the Hawks should ignore young, talented players on the trade market because of a falling out with their original team.

One player rumored to be available is the Kakko. The Rangers took him the Finnish winger one spot ahead of the Blackhawks in the 2019 draft.

He had 40 points which included 18 goals. He has 50 career goals in 273 NHL games. Kakko has become the Rangers’ version of Lukas Reichel in that he just ten points this season. That is one reason he is rumored to be on the market.

He is set for restricted free agency after this season so the Hawks could gamble and hope New York does not tender him. They could also bring him in for the remainder of the season to see if he can find himself skating along Bedard.

However, the Hawks would be trading for a potential performance problem like they are dealing with Reichel.

Maybe the better idea is to stay sellers at the deadline.