5 moves the Chicago Blackhawks need to make this offseason

CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 05: Chicago Blackhawks left wing Chris Kunitz (14) celebrates his goal with teammates on the bench during a game between the Dallas Stars and the Chicago Blackhawks on April 5, 2019, at the United Center in Chicago, IL. (Photo by Patrick Gorski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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Photo by Patrick Gorski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images /

5. Trade Artem Anismov

Up until recently, Artem Anisimov served as the Blackhawks’ second line center. However, the arrival of Strome and his subsequent success has caused him to get a demotion to the third line. With a $4.55 million cap hit in each of the next two seasons, Anisimov’s price isn’t worth his production at this point.

Furthermore, his decline has been going on for a while. At the age of 30, Anisimov hasn’t reached the 40 point plateau since he topped out at 45 points during the 2016-17 season. Also, his average time on ice per game has fallen from 18:05 in 2015-16 to 16:21 in 2018-19. Evolving Hockey’s WAR model had him as the Blackhawks second-least valuable forward last season (minimum 300 minutes in all situations).

Getting rid of Anisimov will be difficult since he has a no-trade clause. However, general manager Stan Bowman has not shied from using assets to get rid of undesirable contracts. It’s time for him to trade Anisimov before his value sinks further. Maybe he can convince a team he’s still a viable top-nine forward who can kill penalties.

David Kampf would be a nice internal option to replace him. The Blackhawks were noticeably better defensively when he was on the ice. Perhaps surrounding Kampf with more skilled linemates would help mask his offensive deficiencies. At the very least, he could do the same job Anisimov is doing at a cheaper price. We’ll get into why clearing more cap space is important a little bit later.

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