NBC Chicago's Charlie Roumeliotis caught up with Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson at the NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo, New York, and asked him about his draft-pick trade with the New York Islanders.
NBC Chicago's Charlie Roumeliotis caught up with Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson at the NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo, New York, and asked him about his draft-pick trade with the New York Islanders.
When the New York Islanders swung a surprising draft-pick trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on May 24, it was a deal that made sense for New York.
The Islanders dealt their first-round pick (18th overall) and second-round pick (50th overall) in exchange for a first-round pick (20th overall) and two second-rounders (54th and 61st).
Essentially, in a "weak" draft, the Islanders came away with an extra second-round selection.
There are ways to weaponize that pick, whether the Islanders will use it to boost a weak prospect pool, include it in a trade to acquire talent, or attach it to move a less-desirable contract, so it was a positive move for general manager Lou Lamoriello.
However, everyone kept asking the same question.
Why would the Blackhawks make this move? What was the point?
We got our answer courtesy of NBC Chicago's Charlie Roumeliotis, who caught up with Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson at the NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo, New York.
"It just kind of came up, and I just felt the picked package was a better one afterward than previous, and so we did it," Davidson said. "If we can marginally improve what we consider the pick values that we were receiving, then why not? I think we've had a lot of volume in the last certainly two drafts, so it just made sense.
"It wasn't a precursor or anything like that. It just made sense at the time, so we just did it."
It may not be a precursor for Chicago, but it does seem like something more is coming from that trade for the Islanders as we inch closer and closer to Day 1 of the NHL Draft on June 28.