Chicago Blackhawks: 3 Duncan Keith expansion draft trades
The Chicago Blackhawks could trade Duncan Keith to Seatle for pure cap relief.
The Chicago Blackhawks are in lots of crazy hockey-related rumors right now. They are in the mix for a trade involving Jack Eichel and Seth Jones. They are also a team that is fit to sign a big-time free agent like Dougie Hamilton. Those trades or signings being smart is a different discussion but that is beside the point. If any of those are going to happen, they need to be smart with their cap space.
If the Hawks traded Duncan Keith to the Seattle Kraken for them to select Calvin de Haan, they would certainly be getting that cap relief. When you combine Keith and de Haan’s cap hits, you free up about 10 million dollars. You also create two spots on the blue line for young players to take right away. Kids like Ian Mitchell and Nicolas Beaudin need steady ice going forward and this could help with that.
As we saw with the Vegas Golden Knights, building a solid blue line out of the gate could really help the organization grow on the ice. If the Kraken had Calvin de Haan and Duncan Keith for the first year or two, it would be a great start. Those two are still top four guys at this point and could play very well if they are placed in a position to succeed.
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Even if the Blackhawks don’t use that money on the aforementioned targets, they can build for the future. The 2022 NHL Draft is as stacked as any draft in recent memory so targeting the top of that might be the best course of action anyway. Either way, if the Hawks are going to trade Duncan Keith, the hope is that it works out for both sides.