Chicago Blackhawks trade Lucas Carlsson and Lucas Wallmark to the Florida Panthers for Brett Connolly, Riley Stillman and a promising prospect

Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune
·8 min read

Only time will tell if Brett Connolly, Riley Stillman and prospect Henrik Borgstrom are long-term components of the Chicago Blackhawks’ rebuild, but the three players represent a definitive shift in strategy.

The Hawks on Thursday traded for a veteran forward with a moderately sized contract in Connolly, another young defenseman in Stillman and a promising offensive prospect in Borgstrom, along with the Florida Panthers’ 2021 seventh-round pick.

In exchange, they sent forward Lucas Wallmark and defenseman Lucas Carlsson to the Panthers, two young players who at least had the potential to be part of the Hawks’ nucleus for the future but struggled to gain traction.

Hawks president of hockey operations/general manager Stan Bowman telegraphed that such a move was possible during an interview with the Tribune late last month.

“If we have a young player that we like but we’re getting another young player that we think fits in better or fills a need, then that’s an avenue we’re going to pursue,” He said. “Or if we can get a young asset attached to a veteran player, that’s another thing.”

With the deal, Bowman is pinning hopes on Borgstrom, has added depth and competition among the young blue liners and is willing to take on a reclamation project in Connolly because they’re flush with salary-cap space.

The Hawks absorb a net $2.4 million in the deal, according to CapFriendly.com.

The departures of Wallmark and Carlsson are a tacit acknowledgement they weren’t fitting into the plans.

“We talked about this months ago: This year was important to try to build and give young players an opportunity,” Bowman said Thursday. “We’ve been able to do that this year and we’ve seen several young players show they’re even ahead of where we predicted they’d be. So that’s part of it.

“But on top of that, we want to bring in more depth. (First-round pick Lukas) Reichel’s had a great year, and with Borgstrom and Stillman coming in, we’re looking to have more options for our coach. And when you have more options and more players, there’s more competition.”

Connolly and Stillman were assigned to the taxi squad with the hopes they can join the Hawks sooner than later.

Wallmark and Carlsson were making lineups lately, but the Hawks would welcome reinforcements even if they can make minor contributions to their playoff chase.

“We’re working on that as we speak — whether we can get them to Columbus to join us on the road,” Bowman said. “Hopefully that’s the case. But with the quarantine restrictions, (we’re trying to) see if they can drive there rather than fly.”

The Hawks did that with Vinnie Hinostroza, another acquisition in a trade the Panthers last week. After driving 19 hours and more than 1,300 miles, Hinostroza arrived in time to make his debut Tuesday in a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars in which he had an assist for his point of the season.

Like Hinostroza, Connolly represents an opportunity to free up cap space by dispatching a player who wasn’t adding much production.

Connolly has a salary-cap hit of $3.5 million through 2022-23. He had just two goals and two assists over 21 games for the Panthers. He’s shooting 12.5%, his lowest in five seasons.

The Hawks entered the trade market dangling about $22 million in cap savings from long-term injured reserve, but Bowman said Connolly’s acquisition wasn’t just a case of taking on a bad contract to get something else he wanted.

“He’s not even a year removed from 19 goals in 60-some-odd games,” said Bowman, referring to Connolly’s 19 goals and 14 assists in 69 games last season. “The year before that, he had 22 goals. He’s 28 years old, he’s a big kid, he had a great shot and he was a good player last year. So we’re not trying to recapture something that was there five years ago.

“Sometimes this happens around the league — it happens to players on our team — for whatever reason, their role changes with new players coming in, and whether their performance or other players who are able to do things, they don’t get the same opportunity.”

Connolly is 6-foot-3 with “a great release,” so Bowman is willing to roll the dice.

But arguably the big haul from the trade is Borgstrom, who played with Hawks defenseman Ian Mitchell at the University of Denver.

Whenever he was scouting Mitchell, Bowman noticed “Henrik was a dominant college player. One of the best college players I’ve seen the last 10 years.

“Really high-end skill,” Bowman said. “He did it all in college. He seemed destined for greatness in the NHL. It didn’t happen right away for him. Sometimes that’s the case for young players: There’s an adaptation to the NHL.”

Borgstrom, the 23rd pick in the 2016 draft, has 11 goals and eight assists in 27 games this season for HIFK of the Finnish Elite League. He played parts of three seasons for the Panthers, including 50 games in 2018-19, when he posted eight goals and 10 assists.

“He’s a big, tall kid, long arms, good reach,” Bowman said. “He’s got the frame, athletic body, skater, hands, and he can do a lot of different things with the puck.

“There’s tremendous upside. Obviously he has to turn that potential into reality. But he’s the kind of player you get excited to work with, and we certainly want to do that next season.”

Borgstrom signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Panthers for $4.475 million beginning with the 2017-18 season, according to CapFriendly.com.

“Whether the (new) contract happens in the last little bit or in a month or two, the timing is not important,” Bowman said. “We expect him to be here next year, not this year.”

Stillman’s contract has a cap hit of $773,333 and expires at the end of this season. He’ll be a restricted free agent.

“Riley was a big part of this trade too,” Bowman said. “If you watch him play, he’s a different style than almost all of our young defensemen that we have. He’s in the same age bracket.

“He doesn’t have a lot of NHL experience, but it was impressive last year when he came in. Breaking into the league, he played over 19 minutes a night, which is a pretty heavy load for a young defensemen. He showed a lot of promise.”

Stillman appeared in eight games for the Panthers this season. He had five assists in 34 games last season. He had three assists in five games for the AHL Syracuse Crunch this season.

“The biggest thing with him is competitiveness, his aggressive style,” Bowman said. “When he’s on the ice, you know he’s on the ice.

“He plays hard, he takes pride in the defensive side of the game, which is important. You want to have players who can make plays and join the rush and create offense, but you have to have some defensemen that really are stable defenders and penalty killers and bring that competitive spirit, and Riley’s that way.”

Meanwhile, Wallmark and Carlsson have cap hits of $950,000 and $792,500, respectively.

The Hawks drafted Carlsson in the fourth round in 2016, but after five years in their system his time ran out. He had nine goals and 24 assists in 69 games for the Ice Hogs in 2018-19. He had one assist in six games with the Hawks the next season.

Carlsson played the last of his 12 games for the Hawks on March 9 in Dallas, where he recorded his only point, an assist. Otherwise, he bounced between the taxi squad and the IceHogs.

This season he found the Hawks’ defensive group crowded with other young players, including Mitchell, Adam Boqvist, Nicolas Beaudin and Wyatt Kalynuk.

Wallmark, who joined the Hawks this season, will return to the team that traded him in February 2020 as part of a package that sent Vincent Trocheck to the Carolina Hurricanes. Wallmark last played for Hawks on March 18 at Tampa Bay and had three assists in 16 games.

While development is still Bowman’s focus, winning and playoff experience are great teachers. Losing Wallmark and Carlsson certainly won’t undermine that.

“We’re looking to win,” Bowman said. “We’re in a fight to get in the playoffs. It’s competitive. We’re right there. There’s a couple of teams we’re fighting with and we play these teams down the stretch, so it’s in our hands.

“It’s a great position to be in — to be accumulating young players to make your team deeper in the future and but also gaining experience down the stretch. That’s what this is all about.”