Canucks and Blackhawks finalize late night trade

In case you missed it late last night, the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks hooked up on a pretty significant trade.

The Canucks shipped forwards Ilya Mikheyev and Sam Lafferty along with a 2nd round pick to the Blackhawks in exchange for a 4th round pick. So, in effect, this is a salary dump for the Canucks who clear out more than $4 million in salary cap commitments with this deal.

Check it out:

“I would like to thank both Sam and Ilya for their time in Vancouver and wish them both the best moving forward,” said Canucks GM Patrik Allvin in a prepared statement. “In Mik’s case, we were really impressed with how hard he worked to come back from his knee surgery. That determination and drive is what makes him such a good player.”

It's expected that the Canucks will use their roughly $20 million in cap space now to take a healthy run at pending unrestricted free agents Elias Lindholm, Dakota Joshua and Nikita Zadorov.

Stay tuned.

Read below for our earlier report on this trade, published by Hockey Feed staff writer Chris Gosselin as events occurred.

Latest trade update down below as the transaction is DONE:  

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, a major trade is taking place as we speak between the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks.

You read that correctly.

Friedman reports that “Chicago and Vancouver [are] working on a deal that will create cap room for the Canucks — potentially involving Ilya Mikheyev and rights to Sam Lafferty, with a second-round pick as a sweetener.”

Frank Seravalli also reports the pending transaction. The sweetener coming from Vancouver is a 2025 second round pick, while the Chicago send back a 2027 4th round selection, provided the trade takes place.

It was recently confirmed by Mikheyev’s agent, Dan Milstein, that the forward’s camp was helping the Canucks finding a trade partner to pull the trigger on a deal this summer.

The Russian forward signed a four-year, $19 million contract in summer 2022, but the Canucks have been looking at different ways to use the $4.75 million in cap space that is currently taken up by Mikheyev’s deal.

Thanks to injuries and a lot of time missed, Mikheyev finished with 11 goals total last season. While he remains a dependable defensive player, the decline in his scoring touch has pushed him out of Vancouver and onto the trade block. During his first season with the club, he was sidelined with an ACL injury and he posted 13 goals and 28 points in 46 games before sustaining the injury.

When it comes to moving to Chicago, not only it is surprising to see the two Western conference rivals work together on a trade, but it also remains to be seen if Mikheyev will accept the move. He does have some power with his no-trade clause.

As for Lafferty, he had the most productive season of his career, scoring 13 goals and 11 points for 24 points in 79 games. He is a pending unrestricted free agent as the market opens on Monday.

UPDATE: Finally late on Wednesday evening, it was confirmed that Mikheyev has waived his no-trade clause for the trade to Chicago.