Both the Chicago Blackhawks and Arizona Coyotes have made it very clear their intentions for this season. It is to sell and tank as much as possible to get a generational talent in Connor Bedard first overall. Finishing last doesn’t guarantee the first overall pick, but whoever does so will get the best chance at drafting first.
Each of the teams have taken a different type of approach to a full rebuild, but each should work out just fine in the future. It will just be a long road to find success again.
Blackhawks Cleaned House
The approach the Blackhawks took was to trade every talent they possibly could that is in the NHL and they can get something of value in return. This meant trading away Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach. They also chose not to give contracts to Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik who they could have gotten at least something in return for if they qualified them before free agency.
That’s four talented young players who most teams would have kept around in hopes they help the team come out of the rebuild eventually. Not the Blackhawks. They are still planning on trading away their final two pieces, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Kane should fetch a really nice return if the Blackhawks can trade him by the trade deadline. Toews will still get the team a fair return but both players will require the Blackhawks to retain a lot of salary which won’t be a problem.
Pierre LeBrun reported that the Blackhawks and Kane will circle back and see where things stand around January. It is possible Kane wants to stick around and break team records, but that doesn’t help the Blackhawks tank as well as they could. He scored 26 goals and 92 points last season, but doesn’t have a goal-scorer like DeBrincat anymore to finish plays.
The rumours keep swirling that the New York Rangers are the frontrunners to land Kane at the deadline, but the New York Islanders are a possibility as well depending on how the first half of their season goes. Ideally, Kane leaves for a contender and the Blackhawks get a big return that helps them have a more successful rebuild.
Coyotes Keep Bringing in the Bad Contracts
Instead of selling everything, the Coyotes have bided their time and got good returns for their players. This is what they appear to be doing with Jakob Chychrun. Elliotte Friedman says Chychrun will be traded out of Arizona at some point, it’s just a matter of when. The interest picked back up in training camp, but the defenceman is once again on the injured reserve. They will at least wait until he is healthy and a team is desperate enough to make them a great offer.
The Coyotes are going to get a very good return for Chychrun seeing as he is under contract for three more years at $4.6 million AAV. He is a defenceman who has the potential to score 20 goals when healthy. The timetable for the Coyotes’ rebuild doesn’t line up with the contract and prime of Chychrun’s career, so it makes perfect sense to trade him.
But instead of cleaning house, the Coyotes have committed to some of their talent to help them come out of their rebuild. Players like Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, and Lawson Crouse are all under contract for at least four more years and they locked all of them up during their rebuild. They have filled their roster with a mix of young talent they’ve acquired and veterans on bad contracts they’ve taken on.
The Blackhawks’ method is more extreme and risky financially for the organization as well. As of right now the Coyotes have more hope and the potential to pull themselves out of the rebuild sooner.
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What method will work better? The Coyotes have been at this method for a while and shown little results thus far other than a stock of great young talent on the way. Whereas the Blackhawks are in the first season of the sell-everything method of rebuilding. A player like Connor Bedard doesn’t come along very often, but how interesting would it be for neither of these two teams to land the first overall pick?
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