If there was ever a time for the Chicago Blackhawks and GM Kyle Davidson to make a splash, this summer is it. The roster at the end of the season was already filled with players aged 24 or younger, and the everyday lineup will only continue to be injected with more youth. At the same time, the Blackhawks have amassed a war chest of draft picks and more cap space than they know what to do with. So why not use those assets on the trade market, becoming perhaps the biggest player of the offseason?
Assuming the Blackhawks do hit the trade market to add to their draft-built rebuild, the rumor mill is already churning. Earlier this week, NHL insider Frank Seravalli reported that Chicago may actually be in play for 26-year-old superstar Jason Robertson.
Robertson, who put up 96 points in the regular season (10th in the entire NHL) is finishing up the final year of a four-year, $31 million contract. He’ll hit restricted free agency this summer, but according to Seravalli, he and the Stars may still be a bit apart on the value of his next contract. Seravalli said that Dallas would need to get him “around what Mikko Rantanen is signed for,” at $12 million per year. If Robertson is looking for more than that, he’ll be playing elsewhere. Why not Chicago?
We certainly don’t have all the information that NHL GMs do, so if the word around the league is that Robertson is about to walk, that tanks his trade value. The Blackhawks would probably have to give up some sort of pipeline talent, but may be able to hang on to their three first-round picks in 2027. Could they dangle other draft capital, like three second-rounders this year, in addition to young talent?
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Chicago has plenty of work to do this summer, starting with signing Connor Bedard to a huge extension. But after that deal is done, they should still have plenty of room under the salary cap to work with. With more than $13 million already, plus the contracts of Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, Shea Weber, Matt Grzelcyk, Jason Dickinson, and Connor Murphy coming off the books, it wouldn’t kill them to sign him to a long-term deal in the range of a $11-12 million AAV. With the Blackhawks seemingly finally out of their lengthy rebuild, Chicago is certainly a more appealing destination to Robertson than it might have been a few years ago.
The Blackhawks, who are in the market for a point-per-game winger, could certainly use a player like Robertson. He’s scored 79 or more points in five straight seasons, and the idea of a big scorer next to Bedard is mouth-watering. The rumors may be just rumors at this point, but Davidson would be foolish to not at least explore the possibility of bringing a huge scorer like Robertson to Chicago, especially for pennies on the dollar in the trade market.
