Blackhawks Haven't Had Trade Talks on Patrick Kane; Toews Reportedly Interests Teams
November 8, 2022
The rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks are still sitting on a number of tradable assets this season, including team captain Jonathan Toews and star winger Patrick Kane, though both need to waive their no-movement clauses in order to be dealt.
However, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson told ESPN's Emily Kaplan that the team has had "zero" conversations with other teams on a deal for Kane, adding that he doesn't "foresee anything" happening soon.
Davidson didn't provide any clarity on where things stand with Toews, but Kaplan reports she's "heard that some teams are looking at" the veteran center given his respectable start to the 2022-23 campaign.
The Athletic's Mark Lazerus reported in July that the Blackhawks hadn't had any trade discussions involving Kane, so things appear to be status quo on that front.
Kane is in his 16th season in the NHL, all spent with the Blackhawks, and is in the final season of an eight-year, $84 million deal worth $10.5 million.
The 33-year-old has helped Chicago win three Stanley Cups, been named an All-Star four times and has won the Art Ross, Hart, Calder and Conn Smythe Trophies. He has tallied 432 goals and 758 assists in 1,119 regular-season games.
Through 12 games this season, the 2007 first overall pick has tallied two goals and eight assists.
Toews has also spent his entire 15-year career in Chicago and was a member of the team's three Stanley Cup victories from 2010-15. The 2013 second-team All-Star has won the Smythe and Selke Trophies as well as the Mark Messier Leadership Award.
The 34-year-old has notched 364 goals and 497 assists in 1,026 games. He has tallied seven goals and two assists in 12 games this season.
In an interview with Lazerus in July, Toews said that remaining with the team through a rebuild "doesn't sound appealing to me at all." However, he added that he wasn't sure what his future would look like:
"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. And exhausting. You have a guy like who was under Kaner's wing. And I like to think that Kirby [Dach] and I had that bond in some ways too. And out they go, out the door. Over and over, we've seen that turnover.
"I'm learning to be more patient, but there's no doubt that timeline is pretty daunting, and pretty exhausting to think about. So, I'm not going to sit here and say what I'm going to do or what the future holds for me, because I really don't know."
Like Kane, Toews is also in the last year of his contract, which is worth $10.5 million in 2022-23. It's unclear which teams might be interested in acquiring him.
Trade rumors surrounding Kane and Toews began around the 2022 NHL draft when the Blackhawks made a number of moves to signal they were entering a rebuild, including trading Alex DeBrincat to the Ottawa Senators and Dach to the Montreal Canadiens.
If Chicago (5-5-2) trades Kane or Toews ahead of the deadline in March, it will mark the end of an era.