Prediction: The Chicago Blackhawks Need To Trade For Auston Matthews

With the NHL season over and the playoffs kicked off, it’s never too early to start thinking about future plans for teams that have already been eliminated. Two teams whose seasons are already over are the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks had an improving year with 72 points on the season.

Meanwhile, for the Leafs, it was a disappointing year, missing the playoffs, the team could look to rebuild their roster for the long term. While the Leafs may look to rebuild, their superstar, Auston Matthews, may not want to stick around this time and may look to go elsewhere. The Blackhawks could be just the team to make an offer to bring Matthews over with their intentions of winning next year.

Key Facts

Team: Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks

People: Auston Matthews, Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, Anton Frondell and Nick Lardis

Why Matthews Fits:

The fit for Matthews in Chicago is pretty easy, as the Hawks need another star to pair with their own superstar in Connor Bedard. Bedard has been with the Blackhawks since he was drafted by them in 2023.

Chicago has had a lot of young stars of their own come up the pipeline, like Frank Nazar, Anton Frondell and Nick Lardis, to name a few. While they have the young talent to eventually become a great team, they still need an already established star to complement Bedard now, while the rest of the core is developing.

Enter Matthews to the team, and this immediately becomes a playoff contender as soon as next season. A trio of Bedard, Matthews and Nazar would be scary to watch and fun. Chicago has not had a great season since the final years of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews after their historic dynasty in the 2010s, where they won three Stanley Cups in six years (2010, 2013 and 2015).

Why Matthews Would be Interested:

For Matthews, joining the Blackhawks would be a fresh start for him and his career. He’s spent his career with the Leafs for his whole career so far since getting drafted in 2016. Unfortunately for the Leafs and Matthews, they have only made it to the second round in his whole tenure with the team.

With the team now at a point where they need to seriously consider a major shakeup to their roster, it may be time for Matthews to look elsewhere. The Blackhawks are a team ready to make the next big step forward in their rebuild, with them seemingly trying to target a playoff run next season.

Chicago will have plenty of draft assets to work with, including three first round picks next year at their disposal to try and make a strong trade for Matthews. It’s already been reported that the Blackhawks were interested in trading for Matthew Knies at the trade deadline this past winter.

With the Blackhawks already rumored to be talking to the Leafs already and whether or not those talks for Knies were serious it’s clear that Chicago has a liking for their roster and could be one of the first teams to line up for Matthews should he become available for a trade.

It will be interesting to see how the Matthews situation transpires, and we will see if he asks out of the Maple Leafs.

The Blackhawks have a real opportunity to open their championship window almost immediately with a big time trade like this that could bring Matthews to the Windy City.

Prediction: The Chicago Blackhawks Need To Trade For Auston Matthews

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