The Blackhawks may have tipped plans to trade Toews or KaneVincent Pariseon April 5, 2022 at 1:00 pm

Some people were confused at the fact that the Hawks didn’t trade a guy like Calvin de Haan. If they were to trade de Haan to a contender, there is a good chance that the Hawks would have had to retain money on his contract in order to get it done.

Most contenders adding depth defenseman for their Cup run are against the cap as it is. The fact that they probably would have had to do that is probably the reason that he is still with the club. The reason that it matters for the Hawks not to retain on him is the fact that you can only retain on up to three players in one calendar year.

They retained on Marc-Andre Fleury at the trade deadline and they were already retaining on Olli Maatta. They left that last spot open which makes you wonder if it is being saved for something big later in the year.

The Chicago Blackhawks could be on the path to moving one of Toews/Kane.

The only players that could be traded and worth retaining on are Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane who make 10.5 million dollars against the cap next season. A Stanley Cup contender would take either of them with anywhere from 30-50 percent of their salary retained.

There is a chance that they wouldn’t have left that retention spot open if they didn’t plan on making a huge move this summer. They need to make big changes in order to rebuild this roster so this makes sense. You even have to wonder if these meetings with Toews or Kane have already happened. That is also very possible.

The fact that they didn’t trade Patrick Kane at this deadline could be because he wants to stay and that they are going to give him one more big contract extension. That leaves Toews as the biggest candidate to be moved over the summer.

Toews has already made some comments about his future being in doubt which is something you never heard from him before. This is going to be one of the most interesting Blackhawks summers in terms of hockey ops in a long time. Regardless if they make a move like this or not, we can only hope that the team improves for the future.