Blackhawks not at the point of trading Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews
Anthony Scultore
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The Chicago Blackhawks are entering a full rebuild this season and general manager Kyle Davidson met with the press on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming campaign. It didn’t take long for questions to be asked regarding the futures Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
“There haven’t been any conversations,” Davidson said. “We’re certainly not at that point. We’re focused on training camp and getting into the season. As far as any player movement or anything like that, we’re not anywhere near that point. We’re focused on Jonathan and Patrick being here and being part of the team and competing right from the opening day. That’s what we’re focused on. There’s been no discussion on that.”
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Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews trade talk
Kane and Toews are entering the final season of their respective eight-year contracts signed in 2014. The three-time Stanley Cup champion players have identical $10.5 million cap hits for the Blackhawks, who finished in seventh place in the Central Division last season and have qualified for the playoffs just once since 2017.
Both players are expected to me moved at the NHL Trade Deadline on March 3 to expedite the rebuild of the Hawks.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Davidson said. “But we’re certainly not there right now.”
Over the summer there was rampant speculation regarding Kane. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta stated on NHL Network that the star was going to be traded by the next NHL Trade Deadline.
“I think there’s an understanding from Kane’s side that he’s probably not going to finish the season with the Chicago Blackhawks,” Pagnotta said. “Whether he starts the season with them, that’s a different story. It’s going to come down to what the Blackhawks want to do.”
Kane, 33, recorded team-leading totals in assists (66) and points (92) in 78 games last season.
A former Hart Trophy recipient as the league’s MVP, Kane has 1,180 points (430 goals, 750 assists) in 1,107 career games since the Blackhawks selected him with the top overall pick of the 2007 NHL Draft.
Meanwhile Toews told The Athletic in July that a potential multi-season rebuilding process “doesn’t sound appealing to me at all.”
In an exclusive interview with Mark Lazerus of The Athletic, Toews laid it all out there.
“At the end of the day, we’re talking about a five-plus-year process, according to Kyle,” Toews said. “So that part of it doesn’t sound appealing to me at all. I can’t speak for Kaner, but I definitely feel that the amount of turnover our team has gone through every single year these last three or four years, that’s where it gets really, really draining.
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Toews, 34, totaled 37 points (12 goals, 25 assists) in 71 games last season.
A former Selke Trophy recipient as the league’s top defensive forward, Toews has 852 points (357 goals, 495 assists) in 1,014 career games since the Blackhawks selected him with the third overall pick of the 2006 NHL Draft.
–Field Level Media contributed to this article