We have a trade to announce!

As the CHGO Blackhawks crew are packing our bags for the early-morning flight to Las Vegas for the 2024 NHL Draft, Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson was doing us a solid and making a move before we were in the air. The Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks have come together on a deal that sends Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty (free agent rights), and a 2027 second-round pick to Chicago in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round pick to Vancouver and the Canucks retaining 15% of Mikheyev’s cap hit.

The focal-point of the trade for Chicago is arguably the acquisition of Mikheyev. Currently entering year three of a four-year deal with a $4.75M AAV cap hit, the 29-year-old winger has been hot and cold in his NHL career, most recently cold. After posting a 20-goal season during the 2021-22 campaign with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mikheyev has dealt with injuries and streaky play in his first two years with Vancouver.

He posted 28 points in 46 games with the Canucks during the 2022-23 season, but an ACL injury dampened his 2023-24 year with just 11 goals and 31 points in 78 games before posting zero points in 11 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

For a player who has played mainly in middle-six roles due to his speed and two-way play, having to overcome a knee injury like that isn’t easy. The Blackhawks are betting that, even at his worst, Mikheyev brings an improvement in skill, size, and speed to their bottom-six that they need to help insulate their younger forwards who hope to play top-nine and top-six roles in the next two seasons.

This will, likely, be the second go-around with the Blackhawks for Sam Lafferty after being acquired by Kyle Davidson back in January of 2022 from the Pittsburgh Penguins. After putting up five goals and 11 points in 46 games following the trade, Lafferty signed a two-year deal worth $1.15M AAV with Chicago, but was traded prior to the deadline in February of 2023 to the Toronto Maple Leafs and then from Toronto to Vancouver at the very beginning of last season. He posted 13 goals and 24 points in 79 games with the Canucks this year and then also played in 11 Stanley Cup Playoff games with zero points.

Assuming Lafferty signs with the Blackhawks again, he also instantly improves the bottom-six forwards group with his blend of speed, ferocity on the forecheck, and usefulness on the penalty-kill.

Lastly, the Blackhawks get a future second-round pick to work with in the 2027 NHL draft. While Kyle Davidson has admitted that he can’t make all the picks the Blackhawks currently own, having more future assets as trade capital isn’t a bad thing whatsoever. Also, he could use the pick and continue to add to the Blackhawks’ prospect system while trying to pry open the future playoff and Stanley Cup contention windows in Chicago. Plus, the last time the Blackhawks took a second-round pick from the Canucks in a “cap dump” move, they did it for Jason Dickinson and he’s turned out well for Chicago.