Max Domi doesn’t get the same trade treatment as Kane, Toews

A few weeks ago, we shared a report on how Blackhawks forward Max Domi would prefer to stay in Chicago for the rebuild. Despite much trade interest coming his way, Domi recently explained to Scott Powers of The Athletic how he’d love to stay in the Windy City.

“It’s also a challenge, too,” Domi said of the future with the Blackhawks. “You want to be part of that. I think anytime you’re asked to be part of a rebuild or you want to be part of something like that, if that’s the word they want to use, but in our case, just getting better every single day, that speaks volumes to who you are as a person, because they want you to be around that. If I ever get the opportunity to do that, I think it’s something I’d definitely look at for sure.”

While it has to be encouraging for GM Kyle Davidson to hear about Domi wanting to stick around long term in Chicago, the general manager might choose to move him instead seeing that Domi, as Chris Johnston pointed it out on Insider Trading on TSN, is one of the best value rental available ahead of the March 3rd trade deadline.

“With so much cap congestion around the league as we get close to this deadline, I think a lot of teams will be looking for value and where they might find it is looking at the Chicago Blackhawks and Max Domi. This season he has played centre showing some versatility moving over from the wing as he’s put up pretty good numbers and maybe the most important number of them all is three million because that’s Max Domi’s cap hit for this year on an expiring contract, much cheaper than a lot of the other players that teams might be looking to plug in top-6 or maybe a top-9 forward role. It’s gone so well in Chicago I think Max Domi would be happy to stay there and think about a contract extension but with where the Blackhawks are they have to gauge the market and will likely move on from him.”

The Blackhawks are already gauging the market for both superstars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, however, these two will have a say in if and where they get moved. Not Domi.

Davidson has said since the start that he will hold a conversation with Kane and Toews and that he will respect their choice if they decide to remain in Chicago.

However, if the GM can get a great return for Domi, the forward won’t benefit from the same treatment and is likely to be moved. There were reported that four teams had emerged as top contenders for the gritty forward’s services with the the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Dallas Stars and New Jersey Devils all being linked to Domi.

Maybe he could return to the Hawks as a free agent in the summer and get ready to be traded ahead of March 3rd…