The Five Most Intriguing Trade Candidates For The Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of trade candidates to consider moving during the next month. The way the team has struggled indicates that this team is not ready to contend for a championship. The next right move would be to make some moves to better the team further down the line.

There are a lot of players with value on the Blackhawks roster. While the team might not be playing their best, they do have a lot of players on expiring deals that could help out an opponent. Plus for the right return the Blackhawks would be able to secure some better picks at this draft compared to where they stand right now.

The first player on the list I think is arguably the most interesting.

1. Dominik Kubalik

Kubalik can score goals in a lot of different ways. He is just a few years removed from putting up 30 goals during his rookie season and being named a finalist for the Calder Trophy. This season he has six goals and six assists through 32 games with the team.

Considering Dominik Kubalik is on an expiring deal worth 3.7 million it would make sense to move him before the deadline, especially if the team thinks he is not worth a big pay raise.

While it would be awesome if the team could trade him ahead of the deadline and then re-sign him when the offseason comes around, the frustrating thing about Kubalik is the fact that he qualifies for RFA status according to capfriendly. The Blackhawks would have to hope that whatever team he goes to decides not to qualify him, or just be prepared to say goodbye to yet another forward.

The reason I think trading Kubalik makes sense for this team is because of the fact that the Hawks are misusing him. With this team, he is a top six forward, but on another team he could be a great addition to a third line for a team looking to push for the playoffs.

Just take a look at the type of goals he has been scoring this season:

Kubalik has talent and a team looking to add one more piece to their top nine should move quickly to try and add him. Compared to a lot of other players on this list, Kubalik is the best long term move for an opponent in a trade, and he definitely brings in the best return.

2. Marc-Andre Fleury

Trading Marc-Andre Fleury is not a question of how and where, it is more a question of when. The Blackhawks should definitely give Fleury a chance at a Stanley Cup with a team that is missing a goalie. The only issue is not many teams are going to be able to make the contract work.

Fleury is making seven million through the end of this season. The Blackhawks can hold back half of that contract, but that still means some salary getting sent back the Blackhawks way. Not a lot of contending teams are in the market for a goalie, but there are a few that come to mind like the Edmonton Oilers or maybe even his old home in Pittsburgh.

Fleury getting traded should only be considered if he is willing to move. Kyle Davidson and company shouldn't consider trading Fleury until he says he wants to go else where. No matter how hard it would be to not get any return for Fleury, if he wants to play the season out in Chicago then the Blackhawks should let that happen for the future Hall of Fame goaltender.

3. Calvin de Haan

There are three defensemen on the Blackhawks blue line on expiring deals: Erik Gustafsson, Caleb Jones, and Calvin de Haan. De Haan is 30 years old, and still has a lot of hockey left in him. He is arguably the best defensemen on an expiring deal, and probably would be able to bring in a second or third round draft pick in a trade.

The only main issue in trading de Haan is how much time he has spent playing with Seth Jones. At five on five, no defenseman has spent more time with Jones than de Haan. Moving him would be a definite sign that the future is what is on everyone's mind in Chicago.

Moving de Haan makes sense for both sides. It gives him a chance to play in meaningful playoff hockey games, and it gives the Hawks an opportunity to bring back up one of their young guys on the blue line like Ian Mitchell, or give Caleb Jones more ice time.

The Hawks certainly do have a lot of options on their blue line, but don't let that take away from the fact that de Haan is a good defenseman that could work in a lot of different teams' top fours. It will be interesting to see what happens later in the year on the blue line.

5. Patrick Kane

Moving Kane might be the biggest move the Blackhawks could make this season. That is, if he wants to go win elsewhere. When the Blackhawks did not bring back Crawford and traded Saad it showed the Hawks top two stars in Kane and Toews that the team was retooling on the fly. No matter how they felt about the moves, the main thing was the fact that they were going to try and compete during their final two seasons under contract.

Well, the last of two seasons is finally here, and the result is a team that is towards the bottom of the division once again and has been blown out big during their first two games of the season. Kane can go down in history as a Blackhawk for life. He can play out his career with the team and will have accomplished a lot, but I do not think another Stanley Cup is coming with this team for a while.

If Kane wants another chance at a championship, the Blackhawks could work out a deal to a team he is interested in going to. They would have to hold back some salary, but the return would definitely be high. A deal like that would give the team their best chance at rebuilding quickly - especially when considering the fact that they do not have their first round pick this season.

Moving Kane would have to happen this season compared to next year. While they could move him next year at the deadline the trade wouldn't net as good of a return compared to moving him in the near future when another team would get basically two playoff runs with the best American born player of all time.