Blackhawks trade board 2.0: Can Petr Mrázek be moved ahead of Friday's deadline?
Well, that was quick.
Nine days after Seth Jones went public with his trade request to force Kyle Davidson's hand, the Chicago Blackhawks general manager shipped him off to South Florida. So much for the immovable contract. So much for worrying about the salary floor. So much for this dragging into the summer, or even into next season.
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Not only did Davidson have to retain just $2.5 million of Jones' cap hit over the next five seasons, but he also managed to get a potential starting goaltender in Spencer Knight and yet another future first-round pick (albeit one that'll surely be late in the round). The Blackhawks are demonstrably worse than they were before the trade, and Davidson has a complicated goaltending situation on his hands, but he did just about as well as he could have hoped for in one of the most significant trades of his tenure.
So, what now? The trade deadline isn't until Friday at 2 p.m. CT, and the Blackhawks are one of just a handful of teams that are obvious sellers. They might not have another four-time All-Star to offer, but Davidson still has some pieces to play with. With that in mind, let's update the trade board now that the former No. 1 is a Florida Panther.
Donato continues to boost his trade stock. He scored two more goals Saturday and increased his career-best total to 21 goals. Most impressively, nearly all of his goals have come in five-on-five play. He has 17 goals at five-on-five, which is tied for 10th in the league, and he has played significantly fewer minutes than a lot of the players ahead of him.
The Blackhawks will undoubtedly get calls for Donato over the next week, but Davidson doesn't feel an urgency to move him. Donato has value on the Blackhawks now, even if they don't re-sign him. If they move him, it'll make sense in the biggest picture.
The Blackhawks aren't motivated to move Reichel, but they'll certainly listen if someone approaches them with an interesting offer. The Blackhawks are fine holding on to him, too. His $1.2 million cap hit is small, and they obviously don't mind benching him when they feel it's warranted. Reichel returned to the lineup Saturday after back-to-back healthy scratches and responded with a goal and an assist, his first multi-point game since Oct. 19. If he can get on a roll over the next week, that could affect things, too.
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The Blackhawks seemed set for this season and next when they signed Laurent Brossoit over the summer. But Brossoit hasn't played all season because of an injury, and Arvid Söderblom stepped in and looked like a potential future No. 1 goalie. Now, by adding Knight in the Jones trade, the Blackhawks have three NHL-caliber goalies signed for next season and a fourth (Söderblom) whom they'll certainly want to re-sign as a restricted free agent. The Blackhawks will prioritize Knight and Söderblom, so where does that leave Mrázek and Brossoit?
The Blackhawks would love to move Mrázek if they could in the next week. There are a couple of challenges, though. One, Mrázek doesn't look anything like he did earlier in the season. In November, he posted a .927 save percentage. Then, he had an .821 save percentage in December, a .904 in January and an .850 in February. For the season, he's at .890.
The other hurdle is that Mrázek has another year left on his contract and a $4.25 million cap hit. The Blackhawks are out of salary retention spots, so it's unlikely they'll be able to move him. A buyout could be a possibility in the offseason.
The Jones trade makes a Murphy trade less likely because the assumption was the Blackhawks would also have to retain salary on Murphy, who has another year left on his contract and a $4.4 million cap hit. Two of the three retention spots will open in the offseason, with Jake McCabe and Blackhawks legend Mikko Rantanen coming off the books, so that might put Murphy back into play this offseason.
Donato leads the Blackhawks in goals and points per 60 minutes of five-on-five play, but Smith quietly has been second in both categories. In limited minutes and despite missing nearly a month with a back injury, Smith has eight goals and seven assists in 38 games. Modest numbers, to be sure, but he can provide some depth scoring and be had for a song. If any contenders are going bargain-hunting, they could do a lot worse than Smith.
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Maroon's fate could be up to him. If he'd like to be moved, Davidson probably would be happy to oblige. The 36-year-old is a three-time Stanley Cup champion making just $1.3 million, and a contender might be happy to have his experience in the room and net-front presence on the ice. But if Maroon would rather finish out the season in Chicago, Davidson will be fine with that, too. Highly respected veterans get that luxury. The return would be negligible anyway: a late-round pick or 'future considerations.' Maroon has been a strong mentor for Reichel, but he obviously isn't part of the future in Chicago.
Kurashev was always unlikely to be moved at the deadline, but it's even less likely now after suffering a hand injury. The shame of it is that he had been playing some of his best hockey of the season before the injury.
Like Maroon, Martinez's fate is largely in his own hands. Another well-regarded three-time champion, Martinez probably could find a depth role on a good team somewhere. But he has a young kid at home and another on the way, and as he told The Athletic recently, he has the luxury of being a champion and not having to go Cup-chasing in the twilight of his career.
(Top photo of Petr Mrázek and Ryan Donato: Adam Eberhardt / NHLI via Getty Images)
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