Blackhawks Should Trade for Senators' Josh Norris

Blackhawks Should Trade for Senators’ Josh Norris

The only thing that is helping the Chicago Blackhawks out this season at center is if they make a trade. This trade should be to not only help the group get some more scoring and confidence this season, but to acquire a player that can be part of the solution and the rise of the team.

The Blackhawks don’t necessarily need another veteran in their 30s, but someone closer to their prime and around the age of the best young players on the team. With some teams looking to make big moves like the Ottawa Senators, this creates a potential deal between the two.

Frank Seravalli mentioned that the Senators have been in conversations about trading Josh Norris. He would fit well in Chicago as the Blackhawks have a center problem and a scoring problem. Acquiring Norris would tackle both issues up front with one move.

The Blackhawks have more than enough to offer the Senators for whatever they may be looking for. The team is looking for a top-4 right defenseman as Artem Zub is out for at least a month. Upgrading the defense would help the Senators stop more pucks and win more games as the team has been falling down the standings.

For that problem, Connor Murphy or TJ Brodie seem like a possible fit. Brodie is still a capable top-4 defenseman that can play the right side and played top minutes last season for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has played both sides this season and is more defensively focused. He is in the first year of a two-year, $3.75 million AAV deal.

Murphy would be a better fit for a trade involving Norris as he’s younger and better. He is a right-shot who plays the right side and also has one year left on his contract after this season at $4.4 million AAV. He is a top-4 d-man and this would really shore up that struggling right side of the Senators’ d-core.

For the Blackhawks, a number of young defensemen have proven they can handle NHL playing time like Nolan Allan, Wyatt Kaiser, and Isaak Phillips. The team also has top prospects Kevin Korchinski and Artyom Levshunov in the AHL and coming soon.

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What the Senators have hasn’t been working and they must make a change. Norris seems like the most obvious of the young forwards to move on from and there aren’t many possible trade partners that can or are willing to take on a contract like the one he has.

Norris is in the third of an eight-year deal at $7.95 million AAV. He has no trade protection this year or next on the contract either, so that would be the time to move him if the team intends to. The Blackhawks have more than enough cap space, even with some players who are going to have to be paid, like Connor Bedard in a year.

Chicago would send a defense like Murphy back and have draft picks and prospects to sweeten the deal or make it fair for both sides. Norris is a centerman and at the very least, it would give the team a goal scorer and someone who is a career 52.4% on faceoffs.

The sooner a deal like this is pulled off for Chicago and Ottawa, the quicker things can settle and both teams can work with the change that is made.

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