During this past off-season, the Chicago Blackhawks acquired Ilya Mikheyev and Sam Lafferty's signing rights from the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks also sent a 2027 second-round pick to the Blackhawks for taking on Mikheyev's salary, while Chicago only sent over a 2027 fourth-round pick to the Canucks in the trade.
Now that one year has passed since this trade, it is fair to say that bringing in Mikheyev has turned out to be a great move for the Blackhawks.
Mikheyev proved to be a nice fit on the Blackhawks' roster in 2025-26, as he scored 20 goals and set a new career high with 34 points. Overall, the 30-year-old gave the Blackhawks a decent amount of secondary scoring and had a strong bounce-back year in the process.
When noting that this was expected to simply be a cap dump move, it is hard not to be impressed with the way Mikheyev played in his first season with the Blackhawks. He gave them solid scoring and was also impactful defensively, so he was just an all-around solid player for the Original Six club in 2025-26. The fact that they also got a second-round pick for taking on his $4.75 million cap hit makes this a complete steal for Chicago.
Mikheyev is now entering the final season of his contract in 2025-26. If he has another season like he did in 2024-25, he could end up being a valuable trade chip for the Blackhawks at the trade deadline. However, it also could be enough for Chicago to try to keep him around beyond this campaign. Either way, it will be fascinating to see what happens with Mikheyev next season.
