Chicago Blackhawks: Three forwards to trade for defense

The Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of good forwards but their defense is awful. They might be willing to move one to help their defense.

The Chicago Blackhawks have some skill at the forward positions. There are elite players like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. These are legendary players that might go down as the best to ever play for the team. Some people have them at that status already. There are young players there like Kirby Dach, Alex DeBrincat, and Dominik Kubalik that could provide tremendous depth and eventually take over for the legends when they move on.

On defense, things are different. They traded away Niklas Hjalmarsson so their other mainstays in Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are all that are left from the glory days. Keith is still a good top-four guy but he is already 36 and will be 37 by the start of the next season. Brent Seabrook just turned 35 a couple of weeks ago but he is much more worn than Keith. It is clear that Seabrook is a 5th defender at best right now.

With that all in mind, it is clear that they need some help. They made the bonehead decision to trade Henri Jokiharju to the Buffalo Sabres for Alexander Nylander. They have Adam Boqvist and Ian Mitchell ready to have a decent amount of ice time going forward but they need more.

The idea of the team trading away some forwards for defense is something they should really consider. There are some premium defenders that are going to be available via free-agency like Torey Krug and Alex Pietrangelo but they will be pricey. These are three forwards that might be able to land them a top-four defenseman via a trade: