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With less than 24 hours to go to the NHL Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets are reportedly working on a trade involving defenseman Seth Jones. And according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the envisaged deal would NOT involve the Blackhawks sending Kirby Dach or Alex DeBrincat.
Extract from Friedman’s report:
What both teams are trying to do is find common ground without including either (Dach and DeBrincat); find another mix of young players, prospects and Chicago draft picks. (The Blackhawks are expected to select 12th in the first round.) They are believed to be one of the teams who could secure a long-term commitment from Jones.
According to Friedman, the original asking price for Jones included Dach or DeBrincat in a Blackhawks package, making Chicago’s overall appeal uncertain. Indeed, the Blackhawks have previously stated that they have no plans to trade Kirby Dach (and it’s safe to say the same is true for DeBrincat). The two players are the cornerstones of the rebuilding process. It’s a classic stealing Peter to pay for Paul’s dilemma.
So with that in mind, landing the 26-year-old Columbus defenseman will require some creativity with Chicago’s hopes and draft picks. Although the Blue Jackets apparently aren’t as interested in draft picks as they are young NHL-ready talent.
But we are not turning entirely in the dark here. A speculative article from The Athletic discusses a trade deal for Jones involving the 2022 first-round pick of the Blackhawks, Philipp Kurashev, Nicolas Beaudin and Ian Mitchell, as does a similar trade deal that included the 2020 Blackhawks’ first-round pick, Lukas Reichel. Again, this is just a speculative exercise, but maybe it can help bring us closer together.
We’ll see where that plays out heading into the NHL Draft on Friday night with the first round starting at 7:00 p.m. CT. Stay tuned. And please remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter if you are not already.
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