With all the eyes of the hockey world focused on Chicago for the NHL draft, the Blackhawks made two huge moves before the draft. Bowman first traded away fan favorite Niklas Hjalmarsson to Arizona for Connor Murphy and Laurent Dauphin. The Blackhawks traded Artemi Panarin and Tyler Motte for Brandon Saad and Anton Forsberg.
Bowman had to make some moves to compensate for the loss of another core member. The Hawks lineup was severely weaken earlier in the week when it was announced that Marian Hossa would not play in 2016-17.