{"id":16763,"date":"2025-03-08T12:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T12:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16763"},"modified":"2025-03-08T12:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T12:04:06","slug":"breaking-news-where-do-the-blackhawks-stand-after-the-trade-deadline-8-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16763","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS : Where do the Blackhawks stand after the trade deadline? 8 thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Mar<\/p>\n

CHICAGO \u2014 In seven days, a lot has changed for the Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n

In the Blackhawks\u2019 biggest move of the deadline on March 1, they traded defenseman Seth Jones and acquired goalie Spencer Knight. Two more moves, including sending out Petr Mr\u00e1zek and Craig Smith and bringing in Joe Veleno, followed before the deadline on Friday.<\/p>\n

On top of that has been the team\u2019s play. The Blackhawks came out of the 4 Nations break with a four-game losing streak, including a woeful loss in Utah. Since March 1, the Blackhawks have picked up points in four consecutive games, including three wins.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Blackhawks avenged their recent loss to the Utah Hockey Club and won 4-3 as Connor Bedard sent a building of Blackhawks fans home happy with an overtime game winner. There\u2019s definitely a feeling around the Blackhawks that wasn\u2019t there a week ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve been a little more consistent,\u201d said Bedard, who snapped a seven-game pointless streak with a goal and a primary assist in Friday\u2019s win. \u201cObviously, we\u2019re going to have little lapses \u2014 every team has them whether you\u2019re in our position or first in the league. It\u2019s just about kind of handling that and having as few as you can. I think we\u2019ve done a pretty good job. We\u2019ve been having a lot of guys chip in, which has been great. We just have to keep trying to build our game, try to win these close ones because that\u2019ll help take us to another level.\u201d<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Ryan Donato\u2019s situation could have played out a few different ways at the deadline. He ended up remaining with the Blackhawks. The question now is if he\u2019ll be with the Blackhawks next season.<\/p>\n

The two sides have talked about a contract extension. It is believed Donato was offered a three-year extension with a cap hit around $4 million. He\u2019ll have to weigh whether he can get more on the open market.<\/p>\n

Donato was noticeable again in Friday\u2019s win. He had a primary assist on Ilya Mikheyev\u2019s goal and seemed ready to fight all of Utah\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong>\u00a0Knight has been everything the Blackhawks hoped for in his two starts in net. After his 42-save debut, he came back with 36 saves on 39 shots on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust impressive how dynamic he is down low, how explosive he is and how quickly he gets his pads down,\u201d Blackhawks interim coach Anders S\u00f6rensen said.<\/p>\n

Two saves especially stood out on the night. The first was this for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n

The second one involves just how poised he was on this overtime save. Bedard scored shortly after.<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson is well aware of how much cap space he\u2019s set to have this offseason. Even with taking on Shea Weber\u2019s contract along with prospects from Utah on Friday, the Blackhawks still will have more than $30 million in cap space. Weber\u2019s contract assures the Blackhawks of reaching the cap floor, but it sounds like Davidson is ready to spend beyond it.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The trade with Utah was) probably more so the players, but the cap implication is certainly part of it,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cI think it\u2019s part of any deal. Again, it doesn\u2019t really change anything for us. It\u2019s not like it alters ambitions, alters anything we had planned going into the summer at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

This summer could be a big one for the Blackhawks. Davidson has the money and the draft capital to be aggressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re always thinking about who can really fit our picture moving forward,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cWe do have all these great assets that are future assets \u2014 that\u2019s also not for everyone, those types of assets. That\u2019s something we do have to consider. But we\u2019ve got some really nice pieces that we feel are valuable around the league, and when it comes to exploring what those bring, we have done that and we will continue to do that. But it takes two to tango. So we\u2019ll keep grinding away.\u201d<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> The Blackhawks are intrigued by defenseman prospect Victor S\u00f6derstr\u00f6m, whom they acquired in Friday\u2019s trade with Utah, and could explore signing him for next season.<\/p>\n

S\u00f6derstr\u00f6m was drafted 11th by the Arizona Coyotes in 2019. He\u2019s 6-foot, 196 pounds and a right-handed defenseman. He spent time in the NHL and AHL over four seasons beginning with the 2020-21 season. He was a restricted free agent after last season and opted to return to Sweden instead of sign with Utah.<\/p>\n

S\u00f6derstr\u00f6m has been one of the SHL\u2019s best offensive defensemen this season with nine goals and 27 assists in 47 games. The Athletic\u2019s<\/em> Corey Pronman thought S\u00f6derstr\u00f6m still had a chance to be an NHLer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s having a great year in Bryn\u00e4s,\u201d Davidson said Friday. \u201cWe scout those Swedish leagues pretty heavily, and team\u2019s in first place and he\u2019s a big reason why. So get a little more in-depth view into him and see if there\u2019s something there to move forward with beyond this year. Once they finish up, we\u2019ll kind of explore that as we get to know Victor a little bit better as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are a few clips of S\u00f6derstr\u00f6m from a recent game.<\/p>\n

S\u00f6derstr\u00f6m scores on this play. He\u2019s sixth in the SHL among defensemen at 0.77 points per game.<\/p>\n

You can see some of his skating as he defends on this play.<\/p>\n

5.<\/strong> It sounds like the Blackhawks are going to use the rest of the season to gauge what they think of Veleno, acquired in Friday\u2019s trade with the Detroit Red Wings. Veleno could fit the fourth-line center role for the Blackhawks next season. He skates well and is solid at the dot with a 47.2 percent faceoff rate this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got some pace, got some size to his game,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cI think he can play the center position. So there\u2019s some versatility to him. He\u2019s still only 25 and we\u2019ll give him some run, give him some opportunity and see what he can do. He\u2019s been on the scene for quite some time. He came in very highly touted, he\u2019s a talented guy and we\u2019ll give him some opportunity and see if we can pull some additional value out of him, and sometimes a little opportunity and a change of scenery does that for some guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be interesting to see who the Blackhawks remove from the lineup. The fourth line in Friday\u2019s game was Pat Maroon, Lukas Reichel and Philipp Kurashev. Jason Dickinson could also return next week and take another forward spot.<\/p>\n

6.<\/strong> Bedard earned his way out of his dry spell Friday. This play was complete effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he was really good,\u201d S\u00f6rensen said. \u201cFor him, the last couple of games he\u2019s had a lot of opportunities. You\u2019re going to go through some of those. This is the longest one of his really young career so far and I thought he handled it really well, through all the downs he\u2019s had here now. Not to get frustrated and sticking with what he believes works, which he\u2019s been doing, and today he got rewarded for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

7.<\/strong> Frank Nazar had his share of chances Friday, too. He and Bedard seem to be creating more and more together.<\/p>\n

Nazar handled this moment well, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it was a little different this time,\u201d Nazar said. \u201cI went out for the shootout against St Louis earlier in the season. And lot of nerves going through your first time. And then this time, just kind of having that experience and knowing what it\u2019s going to feel like, just trust in myself and believe. And just know I was able to make a good move.\u201d<\/p>\n

8.<\/strong> How the Blackhawks are playing has to help S\u00f6rensen\u2019s case for the permanent coaching job. Davidson was asked Friday about having that coaching decision ahead of him this offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always in our mind,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge decision. It\u2019s a huge operation that we\u2019re not only going to have to \u2026 and look, it\u2019s something we\u2019ve thought about for quite some time. We\u2019re evaluating Anders in that. We\u2019re thinking about how that profile looks and what the team will look like and what they\u2019ll need in a coach. That\u2019s always evolving, that\u2019s always ongoing on our minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, over the last couple weeks, you do back-burner that a little bit, so we\u2019ll transition into putting that again in the front of our minds and really being thoughtful in the way that we want to think through and fill that role. And also building out the process by which we\u2019re going to find that next coach, too. A lot of those things are underway; a lot of those things are being discussed internally. But they did take a back seat for a bit, so we\u2019ll get back to it in the days to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over seven days, a lot has changed for the Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-16763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chicago-blackhawks","tag-chicago-blackhawks"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING NEWS : Where do the Blackhawks stand after the trade deadline? 8 thoughts - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16763\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS : Where do the Blackhawks stand after the trade deadline? 8 thoughts - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over seven days, a lot has changed for the Chicago Blackhawks.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16763\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-08T12:04:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/chicago-chay-17.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16763\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16763\",\"name\":\"BREAKING NEWS : Where do the Blackhawks stand after the trade deadline? 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