𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

This is now nine consecutive seasons that the Blackhawks — once perennial buyers — have been on the selling side. GM Kyle Davidson did well to get a first-round pick out of his predecessor, Oilers GM Stan Bowman, by packaging Jason Dickinson (on an expiring contract) and Colton Dach (about to get squeezed out of the lineup by younger players with higher ceilings). Davidson also got decent value for Connor Murphy and earned brownie points with future free agents by doing right by Foligno, sending him to Minnesota to chase the Stanley Cup with his brother. But at some point, don’t the Blackhawks have to start adding to Connor Bedard, not just continue to take from him? Those brownie points don’t mean much if you never bring anybody of consequence in.

There was a 26-year-old top-line forward on the market in Robert Thomas, the pass-first, high-end playmaker Bedard desperately needs. And Chicago has everything St. Louis would want in that trade — an extra first-round pick this year, a slew of good young NHL talents, and a bevy of good prospects. But Davidson, whose very long-term plan has the full faith of ownership and whose job security might be unmatched in the league despite all the losing, sat out the Thomas sweepstakes.

No team has ever successfully built solely through the draft. Every team overvalues its own young players, but at some point, you have to turn picks and prospects and players into assets. A 26-year-old established star in the hand has got to be worth two or three promising lottery tickets in the bush.