The Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of players who could be traded at some point before the deadline. Ilya Mikheyev is one of them.
The Chicago Blackhawks are one of the premier sellers at the NHL Trade Deadline this year. That is because they have a handful of players who can be traded off to contenders looking for something different.
They don't have a high-volume scorer looking to be moved, but a couple of depth forwards and defensemen are on the block. Before March 6th, decisions must be made for the betterment of the franchise.
Most believe that Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson, Matt Grzelcyk, and Nick Foligno are candidates to be moved. There is also Ilya Mikheyev, who makes sense for either a trade or a contract extension.
More than every other trade candidate on the team, Mikheyev has skills that can help the Blackhawks take steps in the coming years. He is good for 15-20 goals, all at even strength because he gets no power play time, and he is one of the three best pure penalty killers in the National Hockey League.
Because Mikheyev is 31 years old, he is not a candidate for a long-term (more than two years) extension with a young team. However, he has been good enough in his two seasons with the Blackhawks to ask for a decent contract, whether it's in Chicago or somewhere else.
A report from NHL insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet suggests that Mikheyev is out there on the trade market, despite the two sides trying to come to terms earlier in the season.
"I think they tried to sign [Mikheyev] at one point, but I think Mikheyev is out there," Friedman said on "32 Thoughts: The Podcast".
Keeping him and trading him both make sense for Chicago. It will likely depend on Mikheyev's opinion of his situation with the Blackhawks and what the team is offered for him in a trade.
Friedman also mentioned Connor Murphy's name, while also saying that there is a challenge in trading him due to all of the defensemen that are available.
He also brought up Kevin Korchinski, who is still a young prospect at this point. It's not an expiring UFA situation with him, but moving him would free up space for Chicago and give the player room to develop with another organization.
The things that Korchinski does well, skate, possess the puck, run a power play, are all things that Sam Rinzel and Artyom Levshunov can do, if not better, while having a cleaner game on the defensive side of the game.
The good news that would come from trading any one of these players, besides the assets they'd be receiving in return, is the roster spots for younger players to come in and show what they've got. Nick Lardis, Anton Frondell, Ethan del Mastro, and Sacha Boisvert are all candidates to play for this team post-trade deadline at some point.
It may come as a surprise to some that Mikheyev's name is out there, but as a pending free agent, they have to see what they can get if they don't have him extended.
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