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Chicago Blackhawks at the NHL trade deadline: 4 more deals net 3 high draft picks and a pair of promising young players as Stan Bowman ‘rebuilds our asset pool’

phil thompson, chicago tribune
·8 min read

None of the four trades the Chicago Blackhawks made Monday before the NHL trade deadline would classify as a blockbuster, but the Hawks netted three draft picks between the second and fourth rounds and added at least two young players in Adam Gaudette and Ryder Rolston they hope will turn into everyday players.

The moves began with the Hawks sending Matthew Highmore to the Vancouver Canucks for Gaudette in an exchange of forwards. They shipped veteran forward Carl Soderberg to the Colorado Avalanche for Rolston and forward Josh Dickinson, then dealt forward Mattias Janmark to the Vegas Golden Knights in a three-team transaction that netted them a 2021 second-round pick and a 2022 third-rounder.

And in a late move just before the 2 p.m. deadline, the Hawks traded little-used defenseman Madison Bowey and a 2021 fifth-round pick to the Canucks for a 2021 fourth-round pick. Bowey signed a two-year contract in January but appeared in only two games this season with one assist.

The Hawks now have five picks in the first four rounds this year: one in the first, two in the second and two in the fourth. In 2022, they have a first, a second and two third-rounders.

“We’re happy with how it all went, not just today but you look back probably the last week or so,” said Stan Bowman, president of hockey operations and general manager, referring to earlier deals that netted Brett Connolly, Riley Stillman, Henrik Borgström and Vinnie Hinostroza. “We’ve made a few trades today and a couple previous to now, and it’s really consistent with what we’ve been trying to do going back to the offseason.

“We’re trying to rebuild our asset pool. ... And it’s not only about draft picks, but we’re trying to bring in some young players and then also get some additional draft capital, which we were able to accomplish. When you add it all up and you look at what we were able to do, I would say very happy with where we’re sitting today.”

The Hawks dealt Janmark and a 2022 fifth-round pick as part of a three-team trade involving the Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks. The Hawks will pick up half of Janmark’s salary ($1,225,000) as part of the deal.

After playing in the Stanley Cup Final last season with the Dallas Stars, Janmark joined the Hawks on a one-year deal with a $2.25 million cap hit. Dissatisfied with how he was used in Dallas, he was looking to show he could be more than a defensive-minded forward and beefed up his offensive role with the Hawks.

He had 10 goals and nine assists in 41 games for the Hawks, though an assist against the Carolina Hurricanes on April 1 was his lone point since putting up a goal and an assist March 18 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In the Soderberg deal, the Hawks flipped an impending free agent on a one-year deal for a haul that includes the 6-foot, 175-pound Rolston, the 102nd-ranked North American skater in the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s final list for the 2020 draft. The Avalanche picked the winger in the fifth round, 139th overall.

In the third round of that draft, the Hawks selected forward Landon Slaggert, Rolston’s teammate at Notre Dame this past season as well as with the national development program and under-18 team in 2018-19.

“Very good skater and he brings some size and speed to the game,” Bowman said of Rolston. “He’s young — he just finished his freshman year — so he has plenty of development ahead of him. But those two attributes, when you go to watch Notre Dame play, you’ll notice him.

“He’s a pretty good-sized kid who really can skate. As far as putting the whole game together, he had a pretty good year last year in the USHL and not as much offense this year, but I think there’s more there.”

Dickinson has split the last three seasons between the AHL Colorado Eagles and ECHL Utah Grizzlies.

Gaudette, 24, has four goals and three assists in 33 games for the Canucks this season. In 153 NHL games over four seasons, all with Vancouver, he has 21 goals and 31 assists. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound center played in 10 playoff games last summer but didn’t register a point.

The Canucks drafted Gaudette in the fifth round in 2015. He played three seasons at Northeastern University, winning the 2018 Hobey Baker Award as the best player in NCAA Division I hockey. He led the nation in points (60) and points per game (1.62) that season.

Bowman said that because Gaudette was a college teammate of former Hawk Dylan Sikura, the staff has seen a lot of him.

“Adam’s a right-handed center, good-sized kid, and he’s coming off a good season last year,” Bowman said. “He hasn’t been as good as last year. The numbers haven’t been there. We certainly see the potential in what he brings to the table.”

Last season with the Canucks, Gaudette had career highs of 12 goals and 21 assists in 59 games.

“Saw him a lot last year when we played them,” Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “He’s big and skilled. I think he scored, made some plays against us, but still a young player. We’ll get him here and go from there.”

Colliton wasn’t sure how soon that would be — Gaudette entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol on March 30, just before 16 of the 22 active players on the Canucks roster went onto the unavailable list. Gaudette came off the list Sunday.

Gaudette has a cap hit of $950,000 and is signed through the end of the season. He will be assigned to the active roster.

Highmore had four goals and six assists in 73 games with the Hawks over three seasons. He has a cap hit of $725,000, meaning the Hawks will take on $225,000, but they have plenty of cap room.

Highmore showed signs of potential late last season with three goals and an assist in the nine games in the Edmonton bubble. But he couldn’t build on that progress — he has just two assists and a minus-5 rating in 24 games this season. And players such as Brandon Hagel have taken on similar roles, with the Hawks employing a rotation of forwards on the fourth line.

“The one thing you appreciate about Highmore is his work ethic and attention to detail,” Colliton said. “It’s hard to find a bigger team guy with his willingness to do the right thing for the team at all times.

“He’s done well with the opportunity that he’s gotten, and from his standpoint, hopefully he can use this to get a little boost and a new opportunity.”

In addition to the three deals Monday, the Hawks traded forward Lucas Wallmark and defenseman Lucas Carlsson to the Florida Panthers on Thursday for forwards Connolly and Borgström, defenseman Stillman and a seventh-round pick.

That deal came after another trade with the Panthers, shipping prospect Brad Morrison to Florida for Hinostroza. The former Hawk had played three games in his second stint with the team entering Monday and had two assists — his first two points of the season.

“We’re trying to get back to being an elite team,” Colliton said. “I think every move that we make, sometimes it’s indirect, the relationship to what we’re trying to do, but everything Stan does is with a purpose.”

Bowman said the Hawks aren’t done accumulating players as they continue to reshape the team.

“We’re trying to build our team back up,” Bowman said. “We’re taking steps this year by giving young players larger opportunities, and many have really run with it. They’ve shown pretty nice progress in the NHL. That bodes well for those players.

“We’ve brought in some other young players that are not in the league who will still be in juniors or in Europe but will be trending into the league pretty soon. We want to see how that fits and sorts itself out and build our team back up. The more depth we have as a team, the better we’ll be as a team.”

Bowman said Colliton has appreciated having the depth and flexibility to move young players down to the taxi squad or Rockford if they need more seasoning — Ian Mitchell comes to mind — or elevate them into the lineup if their play warrants.

Monday’s moves expanded on that theme.

“It’s not like, ‘Now we’re all set, so we have our team for the current and next year,’ ” Bowman said. “There may be new names that come into the mix that aren’t here right now. We’re still in that early stage of building a team.”

But Bowman likes the direction the team is taking.

“We have more NHL players today than we did seven (or) eight months ago,” he said, “and that’s because we’ve given them a chance and they’ve really run with it. We’re going to do that as we go forward as well.”