After trading captain Nick Foligno to the Minnesota Wild, the Chicago Blackhawks made their final trade of the deadline. The Blackhawks traded forward Aidan Thompson to the New York Rangers for defenseman Derrick Pouliot.
Analysis
Thompson, a former 2022 third-round pick, scored 15 points in 40 games this season with the Rockford IceHogs. His entry-level contract expires after the 2026-27 season.
Pouliot, the eighth overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft, has scored 28 points in 52 games this season with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the AHL affiliate of the Rangers. His contract expires after the 2026-27 season.
A minor trade in the grand scheme of things, the justification for the trade is straightforward. According to Ben Pope, bringing in Pouliot provides Rockford with desperately needed defensive depth. With the recent trade of Connor Murphy, along with the expiring contract of Matt Grzelcyk, young defensemen like Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro may see permanent graduations to the NHL. Along with this, the contracts of Ryan Mast and Dmitri Kuzmin expire this offseason. Adding a defenseman going into next season fixes a problem before it can start.
On the other side of this deal, dealing Thompson made sense for the organization. Already at 24 years old, Thompson left little room to develop. Scoring only 15 points this season, Thompson fell short of expectations. With multiple high-end forward prospects possibly joining the organization this spring and in the fall, Thompson became expendable.
Final thoughts
Easy to overlook, minor moves like these can make the difference for AHL teams. Pouliot is a veteran with over 200 games in the NHL and a Stanley Cup championship. Pairing Pouliot with a young defenseman like Korchinski, Taige Harding or Jake Furlong for the remainder of this season could prove valuable.
For Thompson, there is hope that he can find consistency in a new environment. It became clear it would not work out with this organization, so the hope is that he could find opportunities with another rebuilding organization.