The trade deadline has come and gone for the Chicago Blackhawks, and Ily Mikheyev was not traded.
The trade deadline has come and gone for the NHL and the Chicago Blackhawks. Ahead of it, they traded away Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson, Colton Dach, and Nick Foligno.
The last UFA that was in the mix to be traded was Ilya Mikheyev, but he was not moved. They tried to get an extension done earlier in the year, but to no avail. That made the trade rumors surrounding him a little bit louder.
Now that the deadline has passed, the Blackhawks are done, and Mikheyev was not moved. He will remain with the team for at least the rest of this season.
The Blackhawks had a similar situation with Ryan Donato last season, but they decided to keep him and eventually signed him to a long-term deal in the summer.
Maybe Mikheyev is on the same path. He is worth signing to a smaller extension due to the fact that he's an incredible penalty killer, a great defensive forward, and a contributor on offense. For a guy who's that good in a defensive role, his 15-20 goals per season make him even more valuable.
Matt Grzelcyk was another UFA to keep an eye on, but there wasn't much of a market for him. He will finish out the year with Chicago as their oldest defenseman and go from there.
A handful of non-core young players were in rumors from time to time as well, but none of them were moved on deadline day.
The Blackhawks will now host the Vancouver Canucks at the United Center on Friday night in a quick turnaround. Kyle Davidson will speak to the media before the game, so there will be more updates on his thought process coming up.
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