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The Chicago Blackhawks are probably sellers now. If they wanted to move Brandon Saqad for a max haul, these three packages would be worth it.
The Chicago Blackhawks are in seller mode at this point, at least they should be. Their recent bad stretch of play has seemingly removed their name from the Western Conference playoff bubble. It has been a very up and down season, but this recent down has made it apparent that they should be sellers at the trade deadline. It is awful that this team wasted another very good season from their star players but it is what it is.
One player who might have to suffer because of it is Brandon Saad. He has been a really good player on a somewhat team-friendly deal since coming back, but he knows that he was re-acquired in one of the worst trades in Chicago Blackhawks history. Everyone knows that Artemi Panarin is one of the best players in the NHL but somehow Stan Bowman saw that as a fair trade. That doesn’t take away the fact that Saad is an impact player and would be great for a contending team.
There have been some other trades and trade rumors around the league that would be similar to a deal that would happen involving Saad. The best example happened over the last week. The New Jersey Devils traded Blake Coleman to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Nolan Foote and a conditional first-round pick. That is a fantastic haul for a player like Coleman. The trade is similar to Saad because of the fact that it is more than just a rental. He will be there for the next season as well.
Trading Saad would be a similar situation. He has around the same goal-scoring production as Coleman and he also has one year left on his contract. His contract is way more than Coleman’s but it is still considered more of a team-friendly deal by most people. Some of these teams might need to make another move or ask Chicago to retain salary in order to make it work. These are the three trades that would make the most sense for both sides: