Trade confirmed: Chicago Blackhawks - Dallas Stars

Trade Details
Chicago Blackhawks Acquire: Anton Khudobin · $2,208,333$3,333,333$3,750,000 (AHL/JR) 2025 2nd round pick (DAL) Sum: $2,208,333$3,333,333$3,750,000 Change: -$791,667 Change: -$416,667 Change: +$670,000	Dallas Stars Acquire: Max Domi · $3,000,000$3,000,000$3,000,000 Dylan Wells · $0$750,000$80,000 (AHL/JR) Sum: $3,000,000$3,750,000$3,080,000 Change: +$791,667 Change: +$416,667 Change: -$670,000

First!
Honestly I think most won't like it for the Hawks but this is pretty fair. Domi has a lot of points but his playdriving metrics are mediocre.

I normally say that the team that gets the best player wins the trade, so I gave the win to Dallas. I will say, though, that Chicago did a good job to upgrade their potential pick from a 3rd to a 2nd by taking on a cap dump.

Bettman teams dont tank

Once Athinoseau gets traded Hawks lineup is a yikes and a half

What a great pick up by Dallas, Domi is underrated and I really miss him as a habs fan.

Chicago gets exactly what they wanted out of Domi, a bunch of games and a second round pick. Dallas can say that they did SOMETHING at the deadline now adding Dadonov and Domi. I voted fair deal but I also like it for Chicago considering Domi likely comes back in FA.

"Happy birthday Max, now kindly GTFO, please"
Love, Kyle Davidson (probably)

What he said.

Also funny they played Dallas tonight so all he’s gotta do is walk to the visitors locker room to join his new team lol.

Domi is having an outstanding season. He has always been an underrated player. Hope he keeps it up in Dallas

One of the actual fair deals of the TDL. Dallas gets a decent player and sheds Dobby's contract and Chicago gets a 2nd and doesn't have to retain

Damn they be SELLIN'

Domi isn't a good player anymore, but Dallas got the best player in this trade, dumped some cap space, and only cost then a 2nd more than two years from now.

Ok stars now have domi ?

Yes. That is what has happened.

Raddysh will lead in goals, with 14, with an injured Toews lol. Seth Jones is already leading in points with... 28.

What makes you say he isn't good "anymore".

Chicago does this, and Kyle D is praised hourly. Arizona and they’re lambasted as a joke of an organization which needs to be forcibly exiled to Quebec.

Not exact apples to apples in all organizational respects, but each have their flaws as well. (ARZ was not the one of these teams with an ugly scandal that was buried for a decade and ruined lives.) And both teams are putting AHL-caliber lineups on the ice for the rest of this season.

I’m a neutral in this; actually, grew up a Roenick/Blackhawks fan before my state/region landed a franchise. Just calling out a double standard as I see it.

With the season he’s having and a solid playoff contribution in Carolina last year, I thought Domi would be one of the more sought-after rentals this year, so a 2nd two years into the future seems like an underwhelming return to me. Including Khudobin was a good idea though, because it makes the cap hit work for Dallas and lets Chicago keep their last retention slot in case they have a chance to make another trade today. There’s no impact on Chicago beyond this season because he’s in the last year of the contract he signed after leading Dallas to the final in 2020.

Not a fan of either teams. I think Arizona's acquiring assets as part of a rebuild has generally been done excellently. They failed in the Chycrun trade but in general have acquired a tonne of draft capital

The criticism I and most have is they've absolutely cheated the salary cap floor by having about a third of their "salary" as players permanently injured counting against their cap. Their not on ltir.

They are literally 10s of millions below the cap floor (against the CBA) and use this to stay above.

He might never have lived up to superstar, individual excellence expectations placed on a first round, second generation prospect. But that’s not the only way to be an NHL contributor or even high level player. And an individual style has never been Domi’s game. He performa better with higher level players around him, but more critically, he adds value to the players around him. He raises their game.

Plus, a Jack of all trades, which I will never state as or consider an insult. If likening him to Shawn Marion of the Phoenix Suns is too dated or attenuated (nicknamed “The Matrix” for how he would contribute to every data column of the scoresheet), a Swiss-army knife metaphor also suits. Plus, pressing L1 + R1 together when the meter fills unlocks temporary “Tie Domi” mode. Max’s game is not built around or tethered to his father’s identity, but he learned from pops and can bring the energy, rage, and “pop” of Domi V1.0 when appropriate.

In my assessment, Domi’s game has stayed consistent throughout his career; traditional stats have only fluctuated due to his team, role, and effectiveness of utilization. Good on CHI getting a second round pick—the odds for NHL success drop dramatically for players selected outside the top 60. But he is precisely the player that any team and especially any playoff team should covet. If you’re already destined for the playoffs, you have specialists who can snipe or play-make or run point on a PP. Domi will not carry a team but will make any team better overall.

Domi isn't worth a second and Khudobin helps them for the tank. CHI wins

Not as quick myself to heavily discount future (2025 and beyond) picks. Dallas sits well poised to win the Central, pegging its ‘23 picks to the end of the rounds. Now, after Carolina, they might be the top tier team best set up for continued future success, but none of that is guaranteed. Could really improve the value of the pick.

(Off the top of my head, Duchene to Ottawa comes to mind. With that pick bypassing just one draft and moving to the next season, it landed at #4 overall. More recently, MTL went from Cup Finalists to dead last in just one season. Now that first Habs team overperformed while the rest of Division Team Canada: World Police laid an egg in those playoffs, but point is, good things come to those who wait. I know I would be trying to stockpile 2025-27 picks from BOS and TBL rather than their 2023 counterparts.)

Anyway, CHI is already flush with picks in the top two rounds in ‘23, and well-set in ‘24 (even better if Kane conditions trigger). With future picks, they can stagger prospects, avoid clogging the pipeline, and have spare, valuable assets for years to come.

Leafsfan, eh? This is not a personal attack, but you should know better than most the cost of taking only half-measures to plug any cracks in a squad with the talent to win the Cup (or at least a series). GMs are way too attached to draft picks. It’s like desperately collecting spent sperm because of what it could, might, possibly, maybe become in the distant future.



The rough math on a second round pick to stick as an everyday NHL player is 50%. If you give an average GM an average draft class and single picks in rounds 3-7, that group has roughly a 50% chance to produce a single everyday NHL player as well. {Really rough estimates here, especially since I’m not putting date parameters on the set, but if someone has more accurate and precise data, please confirm or correct me.}

First round picks have better odds, yet… Even in the first, only the top three tiers are generally considered locks or very safe bets. In 2023, that group currently consists of just eight (8!) prospects. Sometimes a fourth tier will materialize ahead of “the rest” tier. Being generous, the window might open as far as the top half of the round, but no more, if even that. Not saying, by any means, that other players won’t stick. Turn into stars, even. But over the course of time, multiple drafts, sheer numbers….. data will regress to the mean. All the more reason for losing teams to stockpile picks/prospects, in a brute force attack toward finding success. And all the more reason for a team positioned to realistically win now to take all steps and pay all tolls in pursuit of that goal.

Winning is permanent, forever. The Stanley Cup champs will forever be in the history books (or at least that’s the way history USED TO work). They will be permanently engraved on the Stanley Cup. (Well, for ~85 years.) Go for it, and success begets success. Winning attracts FAs at a discount, offsetting many of those lost picks.

Domi for a second is fair IMO.

Taking a cap dump like Khudobin without just compensation is not.


Dallas wins the trade.

Think of Khudobin as salary retention on Domi. That's really all it is. He's a pending UFA, so he doesn't cost Chicago anything after this season, and they have the cap space, which is of no use to them after today, so taking him is no different from retaining part of Domi's salary. Actually it's better, because it saves them from having to bring in a third team to get Domi's cap hit for Dallas below 50%, and it leaves Chicago with one unused retention slot, which they could have used if they made another trade. (They didn't, but they probably didn't know that at the time.)

The "just compensation" you spoke of is being able to get a 2nd-round pick for Domi. I haven't looked at Dallas's cap situation, but they might not have been able to make the deal without that retention, or they might have offered less because they'd have to do something else to clear $3M in cap space.

That said, I agree that Dallas wins. But Chicago doesn't lose because they can still bring back Domi on July 1 if, as I've heard, he likes it in Chicago. I thought they'd get more than a 2nd with retention though.