It’s trade deadline season, and the Chicago Blackhawks are in the middle of a rebuild. If you thought Brandon Hagel getting traded was all the Blackhawks were going to do, well you’re wrong.
The Marc-Andre Fleury era in Chicago has come to an end, sadly. It was reported before the trade deadline that the Washington Capitals showed interest in Fleury, and the Edmonton Oilers showed interest.
Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday that the Minnesota Wild showed interest, and just a couple of hours before the trade deadline, it finally happens.
BREAKING: Hearing #Blackhawks are trading Marc-Andre Fleury to #mnwild. Sounds like conditional 2nd round pick that can become a 1st for CHI.@DailyFaceoff
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 21, 2022
It would become a first-round pick if the Wild make the western conference finals, and Fleury wins 4 or more games in the first-two rounds, then if not, it’s a second-round pick.
The Blackhawks will also be retaining %50 of Fleury’s salary.
#Blackhawks are retaining 50% of Marc-Andre Fleury’s salary in trade to Minnesota, per source.
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 21, 2022
Before the trade, Fleury was having a decent season in between the pipes for the Blackhawks, hard to believe, right? Now Fleury will have a chance to go chase yet another Stanley Cup before hanging up the skates.
He started in 45 games, with a 19-21-5 win/loss record, with a .908 sv% and a 2.95 GAA. He also ended up having 4 shutouts.
The Chicago Blackhawks Rebuild Is Already Off To A Good Start
On Friday, a Hagel was traded to the Tampa Bay Lighting for two-first round picks, Taylor Raddysh, and Boris Katchouk.
Raddysh already has two points (1G,1A) in two games with the Blackhawks, Kachouk on the other hand hasn’t recorded a point yet.
The Fleury move is out of the way, now the Blackhawks look to potentially move Calvin De Haan, Ryan Carpenter, Dominik Kubalik, Dylan Strome, and potentially Kevin Lankinen before the trade deadline at noon pst. a
GM Kyle Davidson has already acquired two-first round picks, a second-round pick that could potentially turn into a first-round pick, and two young prospects. With the remaining pieces on this Blackhawks team, he could acquire even more draft capital and prospects, which is needed in a rebuild, remember that.
This will not be the first time reading an article from me today, so buckle up Blackhawks fans, it’s going to be a wild ride.
