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REACTION: Why the Blackhawks’ Taylor Hall trade return is better than it looks at first glance

January 25, 2025

Oct 28, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Chicago Blackhawks left wing Taylor Hall (71) controls the puck in the third period against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks completed a complex, three-team trade with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Colorado Avalanche on Friday evening.

Here’s how it all shook out, as laid out by TSN’s Pierre Lebrun:

Colorado trades Mikko Rantanen to Chicago in return for unsigned draft choice Nils Juntorp
Chicago trades Rantanen (50% retained) and Taylor Hall to Carolina in return for Chicago’s own 2025 third-round draft pick
Carolina trades Martin Necas, Jack Drury, Carolina’s own 2025 second-round draft pick, and Carolina’s own 2026 fourth-round draft pick for Juntorp

Yes. Technically, Rantanen was a Blackhawk for a few seconds. What a time to be alive.

“I think he came in here and gave us everything he could.”

—Nick Foligno on Taylor Hall, who the Blackhawks traded to the Hurricanes pic.twitter.com/8fcEX9JOZV
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) January 25, 2025

So after all of this, the Hawks end up with a third-round pick and are stuck retaining $4.625 of Rantanen’s salary. That doesn’t seem like nearly enough, right?

Well, let me explain.

As I wrote in Friday morning’s Blackhawks Beat Newsletter, the expected going rate for Hall was a third-round pick with the assumption that Chicago would retain $3 million of his $6 million cap hit to make the deal more palatable for a contender looking to load up.

If the Hawks simply traded Hall to a contender, they’d be paying $3 million in exchange for a late-third-round pick…likely somewhere in the 90th overall range. By re-acquiring their own pick from last year, they’re getting a pick near the top of the third-round. Now, they’re paying $4.625 million for a pick that will probably be in the 65-67 range. That’s a 25 spot jump for $1.625 million.

I know it’s unsatisfying, but it makes more sense if you take the massive names out of the trade and focus simply on what the Blackhawks got for Hall. How would you feel if they sent Hall to, say, Buffalo? Most Hawks fans would be happy with an early third-round pick, considering where most contenders’ picks would fall.

One last thing to consider, as well. As of now, the Hurricanes do not have a contract extension in place with Rantanen. If they’re unable to reach a deal, they’d have the ability to trade his negotiating rights ahead of the opening of free agency on July 1st. Perhaps the team that helped facilitate the deal (the Blackhawks) might get a favor back in return. These are the parts of trades that are signed with a handshake and not a pen.

This is actually a tidy piece of business for GM Kyle Davidson.