Blackhawks Trade Hagel to Lightning for Big Haul

The Chicago Blackhawks have started their teardown.

With the trade deadline only days absent, the Blackhawks resolved to get a soar on the motion, buying and selling promising ahead Brandon Hagel and two fourth-spherical draft picks to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for its 2023 and 2024 very first-round draft picks and prospects Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk.

It really is a steep rate to pay out. But, seemingly, a worthy 1.

Hagel has the prospective to be the steal of the trade deadline, with his habit to the Lightning drawing comparisons to the Blake Coleman trade two decades in the past that finally pushed Tampa to consecutive Stanley Cups.

The 23-year-outdated has occur out of nowhere in 2021-22 to have a marvelous time on a struggling Blackhawks squad, racking up 21 objectives and 37 factors in 55 to this stage when observing his usage skyrocket from averaging under 14 minutes in ice time for every night time past calendar year to nearly 18 minutes, now.

Though his on-ice output is unquestionably spectacular, what tends to make Hagel an even much more desirable asset is his agreement, which offers the Lightning multiple many years of crew manage of a player who will assuredly assistance harmony their lineup.

The Blackhawks signed Hagel to a three-yr offer this earlier summer months that carries a mere $1.5 million price tag per time, keeping him underneath agreement by means of the 2023-24 time and making certain that, even upon expiry, he will however be a limited no cost agent.

For a Lightning team in the middle of its contention window, surrendering these types of a massive chunk of draft money for a participant like Hagel, who will assist the staff immensely for the future three yrs whilst earning a pittance, appears to be like a worthwhile trade-off.

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, managed to strike at the excellent time with their coveted asset, marketing Hagel at the complete peak of his value and ahead of his 22 per cent capturing proportion is possible to fairly regress.

Though they are giving up a 23-year-aged functional ahead, Hagel will possible be nearing his 30s by the time the Blackhawks exit their impending rebuild, and the haul they ended up getting for him will established them up properly for a long time to come.

It really is a unusual get-win for both equally sides. And just one of the high quality trade candidates is now off the board with the deadline a lot less than four times absent.