The Vancouver Canucks have reportedly arranged to trade Ilya Mikheyev and a second-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks.Tav Morrison/Vancouver Is Awesome
When the Vancouver Canucks need to clear cap space, they talk to the Chicago Blackhawks.
According to multiple reports, the Canucks and Blackhawks have agreed to a trade that would send Ilya Mikheyev, the signing rights to Sam Lafferty, and a second-round pick to the Blackhawks in exchange for a fourth-round pick.
The one sticking point to the deal getting done is that Mikheyev has a 12-team no-trade clause, with the basement-dwelling Blackhawks likely on that no-trade list. Considering the Canucks gave Mikheyev’s agent, Dan Milstein, permission to facilitate a trade, however, it seems likely that Mikheyev will waive.
That said, he reportedly has not yet been asked to waive.
The Canucks don’t have a second-round pick in this year’s draft and neither do the Blackhawks have a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft. Instead, the Canucks’ pick is from the 2025 draft, while the Canucks will have to wait until the 2027 draft to get the Blackhawks’ fourth-rounder.
Lafferty was unlikely to re-sign with the Canucks, so including his rights in the trade doesn’t cost the Canucks anything. The true cost to dumping Mikheyev’s $4.75 million cap hit is the second-round pick. It was a similar cost for the Detroit Red Wings to dump Jake Walman’s contract on the San Jose Sharks, only the Red Wings didn’t get a fourth-round pick in return.
The Canucks wanted to avoid adding a sweetener to trade Mikheyev but the need to create space under the salary cap was too great, especially if they want to retain a pending free agent like Nikita Zadorov and go big-game hunting in free agency for someone like Jake Guentzel. Without shedding Mikheyev’s salary, the Canucks’ cap crunch would have made it difficult to make significant improvements to the lineup heading into next season.
The Canucks have previously dumped other contracts on the Blackhawks to shed salary, trading Jason Dickinson and a second-round pick to the Blackhawks for Riley Stillman in 2022 and trading Anthony Beauvillier for a fifth-round pick in 2023.
Dickinson subsequently became a key centre for the Blackhawks, even garnering Selke votes this past season, while the Blackhawks recouped a fifth-round pick for Beauvillier at the 2024 trade deadline in a deal with the Nashville Predators.
