The Florida Panthers claimed the Stanley Cup on Monday and now the NHL offseason is in full swing. We saw one trade with the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. Wednesday night seemed to indicate another trade between the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks was on the horizon. After a hurdle involving forward Ilya Mikheyev, the move is going to happen.
The Blackhawks are trading for Mikheyev and the signing rights to forward Sam Lafferty, according to Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli. Additionally, they are acquiring a 2025 second-round pick. In return, the Canucks are receiving a 2027 fourth-round draft selection.
Mikheyev initially hadn't been asked to waive his no-trade clause when the news first broke. Furthermore, reports emerged that another team held discussions with the Canucks about the 29-year-old winger. In the end, Mikheyev agreed to waive his no-trade clause to join the Blackhawks, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
Ilya Mikheyev has struggled since Canucks signing
Mikheyev began his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he didn't make much noise. The Russian winger scored 15 goals and 40 points combined through the two seasons he spent in Toronto. In July 2022, he hit NHL Free Agency for the first time. The Canucks paid up, giving him a four-year contract with a cap hit of $4.75 million per year.
To say the move has not worked would be a major understatement. Mikheyev has scored just one goal over his last 61 games, regular season and playoffs included. His shooting percentage plummeted from the 14.3 mark he recorded in 2021-22 and 2022-23 to just 7.3 in 2023-24. He finished this past season with 11 goals and 31 points.
The Canucks made the Stanley Cup Playoffs this past season. In fact, they were one game away from advancing to the Western Conference Finals. Vancouver has a chance to build on a surprisingly successful campaign from this past year. And they benefit from clearing nearly $5 million in this trade.
How Mikheyev fits Blackhawks
The Blackhawks want to improve their roster and build around franchise cornerstone Connor Bedard. Mikheyev has shown he can score at a respectable pace in the NHL. He isn't far removed from a season in which he scored 21 goals. The true value Mikheyev brings to the table, though, is his defense.
The 29-year-old Russian winger was one of Vancouver's best defensive forwards this past season. He ranked third among forwards with at least 60 games played in defensive goals above replacement, according to Evolving Hockey. The only forwards with a better defensive impact than Mikheyev were Connor Garland and Pius Suter.
The Blackhawks can certainly use more defensively-minded forwards. In fact, only two Chicago forwards — Jason Dickinson and Joey Anderson — recorded a better defensive goals above replacement than Ilya Mikheyev. And only three forwards with more than 50 games played recorded more than one defensive goal above replacement.
Of course, the Blackhawks certainly hope they can figure out how to get Mikheyev scoring again. For some reason, the fit with the Canucks simply did not work out. Chicago has some success with reclamation project players, as well. For instance, Dickinson led all Chicago skaters with 16.3 overall goals above replacement. This is well above the 4.9 mark he recorded in 2022-23.
This is a trade where the Blackhawks and Canucks benefit. Vancouver gains valuable cap space to work with this summer. And Chicago adds a winger who improves their defense with some potential to bounce back offensively after a rough 2023-24 campaign. It'll be interesting to see what else these teams have up their sleeve this summer.
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