3 teams who should make a trade offer for Jonathan Toews

The Chicago Blackhawks have declared themselves to be in rebuild mode, and these three teams should be readying a trade offer for Jonathan Toews

Due to NHL’s expanded format, the Chicago Blackhawks made the playoffs this past season. They also won a qualifying round series before bowing out in the traditional first round. So any signs of a rebuild was sure to not sit well with some veterans, including Jonathan Toews.

In an article written by Mark Lazerus of The Athletic earlier this month (subscription required), Toews sounded off in speaking for what’s left of the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup-winning core.

“Bottom line is, I want to win,” Toews said.  “The expectation for the other leaders on this team and myself is to come ready to training camp every year to be a playoff team. We prepare ourselves to win a Cup for our fans. I’ve never been told that we were going through a rebuild. That has never been communicated to me, for that matter. A lot of this comes as a shock because it’s a completely different direction than we expected.”

On Tuesday, the Blackhawks issued a letter to their fans.

After referencing the departures of goaltender Corey Crawford in free agency and winger Brandon Saad, the Blackhawks used the word rebuilding. The removal of team president and CEO John McDonough, who was against a roster teardown, in late-April has paved the way for the ‘r’ word fans aren’t always keen on and veteran players despise.

The idea of trading Toews is now not so outlandish. He, as could be expected, has a no-move clause that he may now be willing to waive without question.

These three teams should be preparing a trade offer for the veteran center.

Note: All trade proposals certified via Cap Friendly’s trade machine.

3. Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina’s top line of Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov all tallied more than 60 points last season. But the next-highest point scorer was defenseman Dougie Hamilton 40 points), and the next-highest scoring forward was center Martin Necas (36 points). Nice depth on the blue line gives them the ability to add forward depth.

Carolina has just over $5 million in cap space now (via CapFriendly), so Chicago would have to retain some of Toews’ money ($10.5 million cap hits in each of the next three years) or the Hurricanes would have to send someone with some salary back to the Blackhawks. It’s safe to assume the Blackhawks would prefer expiring contracts and young players in such a deal.