The Chicago Blackhawks announced late Wednesday that they traded centers Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for left winger Andrew Mangiapane and a 2027 first-round draft pick. The Hawks will retain 50% of Dickinson’s salary, and the pick is top-12 protected.
If the Oilers pick in the top 12 in 2027, they may choose to transfer the pick to 2028. If they trade their 2028 pick before the 2027 deadline, the Hawks would get the 2027 pick unconditionally.
Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson was again able to negotiate a higher-than-expected return for one of his veterans, the other being a 2028 second-round draft pick for defenseman Connor Murphy.
Dickinson, 30, was traded to the Hawks from the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 7, 2022. He had 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists) in 78 games in his first season in Chicago and signed a two-year, $8.5 million contract with the Hawks on Jan. 16, 2024.
The forward’s best season came in 2023-24, when he had 35 points (22 goals, 13 assists) and played all 82 games. He also scored a career-high four game-winning goals and ended the year with a plus-4 rating.
He earned the alternate captain’s patch that season after Jonathan Toews took a leave of absence from the NHL. He joined fellow alternate captain Murphy, who was traded to the Oilers earlier this week. Connor Bedard will be an alternate captain for the rest of the season after Murphy’s departure, so Dickinson’s “A” may go to another youngster as well.
Dickinson has missed some time this season for various injuries. He has been out of the lineup for 14 games, including 10 on injured reserve with a shoulder issue.
In his 11-season NHL career, Dickinson has 74 goals and 94 assists across 549 games and 11 game-winning goals. The Dallas Stars selected him at No. 29 in the 2013 draft, and he scored a goal in his NHL debut on April 7, 2016.
Trading Dickinson had been a possibility to make room for incoming Hawks prospects. Before the NHL’s Winter Olympics break, general manager Kyle Davidson said he wanted to “keep giving young players opportunity.”
Dach, 23, recently has been a healthy scratch for the Hawks but remains one of the NHL’s most physical rookies. The center has 189 hits this season, 10th-most in the league.
He was selected at No. 61 in the 2021 draft. The Oilers will get a bottom-six forward who is both an enforcer and an energy magnet.
It was another deal done with Oilers general manager Stan Bowman, who held the same position with the Hawks from 2009-21, winning three Stanley Cups. He resigned after the team’s sexual assault scandal against video coach Brad Aldrich came to light. Then-assistant GM Davidson became interim and later full-time general manager of the Hawks following Bowman’s departure.
Mangiapane had 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 52 games with the Oilers this season. He signed a two-year, $7.2 million contract in July.
