The Chicago Blackhawks Will Always be the Winner in the Alex DeBrincat Trade With Ottawa for these Four Reasons

Speaking of Bedard, the trade allowed the Blackhawks to be enough to land the No. 1 overall pick.

The Blackhawks were not going to compete for a playoff spot with DeBrincat on last year's team. His scoring production with Patrick Kane might have been good enough to keep the Blackhawks from having the third-best odds of winning the NHL Draft Lottery.

Getting rid of DeBrincat weakened the Hawks. Then trading away Kane and the rest of the veterans before the deadline meant the Hawks only won five games to close out the season.

The tank season proved successful as the Blackhawks have a generational talent to build around. DeBrincat is a great player, but his talent is not on the level of Bedard. Alex is the second star on the team. Bedard is the main attraction.

The Senators only got one season from DeBrincat and did not make the playoffs.

Ottawa was not able to convince DeBrincat to sign long-term. The Senators were forced to trade Alex to the Detroit Red Wings in the offseason.

They got a good return that if they make the correct draft choices, then the Senators will mitigate how much they lost in the deal with the Blackhawks. Still, Ottawa's gamble did not pay off. They did not even make the playoffs last year.

Losing two premium assets, the player they hoped would turn around their fortunes, and not making the playoffs is a big reason the Senators will never be considered a winner in this deal.