The Chicago Blackhawks have been the busiest team in the NHL over the past few days, and they continued that run of moves on Friday night as they acquired forwards Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise from the Montreal Canadiens.
In exchange, the Blackhawks sent forward Phillip Danault and their second round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft to Montreal.
Both Weise and Fleischmann will be free agents after the season concludes, with Weise carrying a salary cap hit of just over $1 million and Fleischmann’s hit only sitting at $750,000 for the season.
Weise has 14 goals and 12 assists in 56 games with the Canadiens this season. He also was in second place on the team in hits this season, with 108 to his credit. The Blackhawks have reportedly been eyeballing players that combine grit and goal scoring ability to pair with Teuvo Teravainen on the third line, and with the Danault trade, it clears a center spot for Teravainen and allows a player like Weise to skate on his line.
Fleischmann is also a solid scorer, with 10 goals and 10 assists so far this season. It’s unclear what role he will fill on the Blackhawks, but with Jiri Sekac placed on waivers by the team on Friday, it seems as though he will at least get a shot to crack the lineup on a consistent basis.