Blackhawks are trading Brandon Hagel, per reports originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson made it clear in his introductory press conference that he’s preparing for a rebuild, and the first big domino has fallen.
The Blackhawks have traded Brandon Hagel and two fourth-round picks (2022 and 2024) to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for two first-round draft picks (2023 and 2024), forward Boris Katchouk and forward Taylor Raddysh, according to multiple reports.
It’s a massive haul for the Blackhawks, who were only going to trade Hagel if they got an offer they couldn’t refuse and this certainly qualifies as that.
There are many reasons why Hagel is an attractive piece to a contender like Tampa. In short, he’s only 23 years old, is on an 82-game pace for 31 goals and carries a cap hit of $1.5 million for two more seasons after this one. A ridiculous bargain.
As a comparison, the Lightning acquired forward Blake Coleman from New Jersey in February of 2020 for a high-end prospect in Nolan Foote and first-round pick. Coleman was 28 at the time and in the last season of his deal at a cap hit of $1.8 million. That was likely Chicago’s benchmark for a potential Hagel return, at the very least.
While Hagel could have been a nice piece for the Blackhawks built around, restocking the pipeline has become a priority for Davidson and rightfully so. The only high-end prospect in the organization right now is Lukas Reichel, who was taken No. 17 overall in 2020.
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from NBC Chicago https://ift.tt/pLYKSJZ
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