The Chicago Blackhawks May Accept These 3 Unsatisfactory Contracts Before the Deadline in Order to Acquire More Draft Picks
Before the trade deadline of the previous year, Kyle Davidson, the general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, dealt away any player who would have given him a draft pick. During that period, he also acquired two draft picks from the Ottawa Senators by taking on Nikita Zaitsev’s 18-month, $4.5 million cap charge.
According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Davidson may be prepared to take on some more troublesome contracts given the salary budget room he possesses if it means receiving additional draft picks in exchange for taking on the risk.
LeBrun made it apparent that, similar to how Zaitsev’s contract was only intended to stay on the Hawks’ books for a brief time, it appears that Davidson will only take on contracts that expire after the 2019–20 season.
Additionally, it would be good to see Davidson bring in someone who can produce as much as Zaitsev has this season. Although Nikita hasn’t played well and is presently on injured reserve, he has performed better than players like Jarred Tinordi when he has skated this season.
Production is merely a bonus. Acquiring these terrible agreements is really about getting another draft pick, ideally in the first three rounds.
In exchange for paying the remaining balance on Zaitsev’s contract, the Blackhawks received a second-round selection in the previous year’s draft. Davidson used the No. 44 choice to choose Roman Kansterov, a forward. The KHL, the best professional league in Russia, is where the teenager is currently competing. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times Blackhawks beat reporter ranks him as the team’s fourteenth-best prospect.
The fact that Kansterov will remain in the KHL until 2027 is a plus. Even though it might seem like a long time for him to make it to the NHL, it’s actually a positive thing because he will be an inexpensive addition to a team that already has Kevin Korchinski and Connor Bedard on second contracts. Additionally, it spreads out the influx of new prospects who formally join the company. Kansterov might prove to be an appropriate substitute in the event that a few of these forwards falter during the opening wave.
If the Blackhawks want to get back to winning consistently, they still need to keep stacking draft picks to assemble fantastic draft classes. For this reason, Davidson is willing to accept a terrible asset from the company in exchange for a good one. Additionally, this is an additional way for Davidson to obtain more draft capital because they do not have many players to deal off before the deadline.
Three players meet the bill for a big financial commitment that would be relatively short-lived and whose salary cap-clogging number their current postseason-contending teams might wish to cut.
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