(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
The rebuild is on for the Chicago Blackhawks. Kyle Davidson was hired to be the new full-time general manager of the team and now he is making big moves. It isn’t fun to see your favorite team be sellers at the trade deadline but it is fun to see them do what they need to do to succeed.
They have traded Brandon Hagel to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay is a team that has aspirations of winning their third Stanley Cup in three years so they don’t mind giving up future assets for players that will help them right now.
The Blackhawks sent Hagel to Tampa Bay in exchange for a 2022 4th round pick and a 2024 4th round pick. In return, they are getting a first-round pick in 2023, a first-round pick in 2024, Boris Katchouk, and Taylor Raddysh.
Raddysh & Katchouk are the two Lightning players
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 18, 2022
The Chicago Blackhawks did well in the Brandon Hagel trade with the TBL.
This is a phenomenal trade for the Chicago Blackhawks. They are getting an extra first-round pick in 2023 which is phenomenal. You never know how good Tampa Bay is going to be next year and that draft is as deep as any draft in the last few years. The extra first in 2024 makes it even better.
Borris Katchouk is a very interesting player. His offense hasn’t reached new heights in the NHL yet but he has only played in 38 games. He also doesn’t even average 10 minutes of ice with Tampa because they are so deep.
It should be noted that his CorsiFor is 52.9 percent which is outstanding. When he is on the ice, good things happen for his team, even if he isn’t the one scoring goals just yet.
Taylor Raddysh is also a young forward that needs a chance in the NHL. He is a little bit more offensively productive than Katchuok right now but anything can happen with these guys over the next few years. Adding them to the mix is certainly going to help the team build towards the future.
Tampa Bay is also doing well in this trade. They are, as mentioned before, trying to win the Stanley Cup for the third time in as many years. They created a third line via trades going into the 2020-21 postseason and it worked out well for them.
Now that all of those players are gone, they are trying to do it again and Hagel is perfect in that role. He will play with some really good players there and he won’t be relied on to score almost every night as he has been in Chicago.
Hagel was outstanding for Chicago. He deserves credit for going from a guy that flipped back and forth from the NHL to the AHL to a guy that fetched the Hawks’ two first-round picks. He will succeed in Tampa. Chicago should also be happy with their return and it looks like Kyle Davidson has a plan. Hopefully, this is the first step towards regained success.