The Chicago Blackhawks are having a quiet NHL trade deadline as compared to last year.
General manager Kyle Davidson completed nine trades before last year's trade deadline. Patrick Kane, arguably the franchise's greatest player, was among those players dealt when he requested a trade to the New York Rangers.
A lot of those deals had to take place to finish the roster teardown portion of this extensive rebuild. Now the Hawks are in the early stages of collecting talent to build around Connor Bedard.
Davidson is off to a good start with two drafts improving the team's prospect pool to the seventh-best according to the Athletic's Scott Wheeler. The Hawks still need to add more talent through the draft and they have 16 picks in the first three rounds over the next three drafts.
Still, it would be nice to have more picks with the trade deadline being another avenue to add more draft capital or a prospect. The problem is the Blackhawks do not have many players teams would be interested in like they had last year.
Tyler Johnson is a player that makes sense to be dealt. He is a two-time Stanley Cup winner who can still produce some goals for a contender's third line. If the Blackhawks retain 50% of his salary, there is a chance they could fetch one a decent draft pick.