Chicago Blackhawks continue to stockpile draft picks and prospects by trading Sam Lafferty and Jake McCabe to the Toronto Maple Leafs
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Forward Sam Lafferty and defenseman Jake McCabe are having arguably their best individual seasons, and while they can’t make a difference for the Chicago Blackhawks’ present, they’re helping the team’s future.
By leaving.
The Hawks traded Lafferty and McCabe to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday for a package that includes forwards Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev and a swap of draft picks.
The Hawks received a 2025 conditional first-round pick and a 2026 second-round pick while sending the Leafs conditional fifth-rounders in 2024 and 2025.
“In our effort to acquire future assets and continue the rebuild, draft picks and prospects are the currency that is valuable to us at this time,” Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson said. “And we were able to get some really high-valued assets in this trade.
“Obviously it’s not easy moving on from two good players that we valued, but you have to give something to get something and we’re happy with the return.”
To give the Leafs some salary-cap relief, the Hawks will retain 50% of McCabe’s salary — a $2 million annual cap hit. The Leafs’ 2025 first-rounder is top-10 protected.
McCabe has a career-high plus-7 rating after posting a career-low minus-28 last season, his first with the Hawks. Lafferty has reached career highs with 10 goals and 11 assists in 51 games and can boost a contender as a depth forward, a speedy checker with some offensive pop and a penalty killer.
In his first major trade for the Hawks, then as interim GM, Davidson acquired Lafferty from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 5, 2022, for Hawks washout Alex Nylander. Davidson signed Lafferty to a two-year, $2.3 million contract in April. Lafferty has a season left with a $1.15 million cap hit.
Former Hawks GM Stan Bowman signed McCabe to a four-year, $16 million deal on July 28, 2021, which means the contract runs for two more seasons through 2024-25.
But money appears to be no object for the rebuilding Hawks, just as draft capital seems to be of little concern for contenders such as the Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning. Those two trade partners have helped the Hawks stock up with two first-round picks for each of the next three years if all conditions are met.
“It was a situation where maybe we could have separated them,” Davidson said, “but we felt that the total value was likely there just to do them together. So it was just easier to make it a combo.”
Davidson was asked if he requested picks in this summer’s draft or if the Leafs offered only future picks.
“We don’t want to stock too many draft picks all in one spot,” he said. “It’s nice to spread them out. It gives you the option to potentially use them as currency elsewhere. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make that selection — 2025 and 2026 is a while away.”
The Leafs were willing to part with the picks because McCabe, 29, is younger than other trade options and has time left on his contract.
Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said he “just always liked how physical (McCabe) is, how competitive he is in the neutral zone, how he can defend and move the puck. He seems to relish that role.”
Playing with Seth Jones for the Hawks as a top defensive pairing “gave us a chance to see how he’d play against top competition each night,” Dubas said.
Dubas thought Lafferty was a solid player in Pittsburgh but “seemed to come alive in Chicago.”
“For me the speed is the No. 1 thing that he brings,” Dubas said, “but also the versatility — able to play center, able to play wing — and then also the forecheck, the competitiveness, tenacity. … (He’s) able to create turnovers up the ice, be physical, be really competitive.”
The 24-year-old Anderson, a 2016 third-round pick by the New Jersey Devils, joins the Hawks pipeline after recording two goals and an assist in 14 games for the Leafs. He also put up 14 goals and 14 assists in 30 games for the AHL Toronto Marlies.
The 6-foot, 207-pound Anderson helped the U.S. win gold at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship and bronze in 2018. He also won bronze at the 2016 under-18 championship.
Gogolev, who’s 6-1 and 197 pounds, will report to the Rockford IceHogs. The 23-year-old posted nine goals and 11 assists in 45 games with the Marlies, but he has played in just one AHL game this season. He spent most of it with the ECHL Newfoundland Growlers, racking up 21 goals and 27 assists in 33 games.
While the Hawks have been clear about accumulating picks and prospects, they still need bodies to fill the lineup for the rest of the season and Anderson in particular will help on that front.
“We’re sending some players out and we do need some players, and they were players — when provided with the list (by the Leafs) — that we wanted to bring in,” Davidson said. “We’ll get them in and hopefully get them playing as soon as possible.”
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