Chicago Blackhawks forward Ilya Mikheyev is hoping to stay put at the trade deadline, but the pending unrestricted free agent knows the decision is out of his hands.
The 31-year-old forward has 11 goals and 23 points in 51 games this season while carrying a cap hit of $4.04 million after the Vancouver Canucks retained 15 per cent in trading him to Chicago in June 2024.
“I can’t control this, so I’m not thinking about this,” Mikheyev told The Athletic in a story posted Wednesday. “Let’s see what happens. I don’t have the last word. Nobody’s going to be asking (me), so why should I worry about this?”
Mikheyev has carved out a key role with the Blackhawks as their top penalty killer, sitting fifth among all NHL forwards with an average of 2:51 ofshort-handedice time per game. He is also averaging a career-high 17:43 of ice time per game.
The Omsk, Russia native was moved two years ago amid a falling out with the Canucks two seasons into a four-year, $19 million contract that is now coming to an end. The Blackhawks sent a fourth-round pick to the Canucks to acquire Mikheyev.
“Vancouver, it was a different story,” Mikheyev said. “Here, I feel more confidence, I play more, and it just feels like home. Vancouver, it wasn’t like that.”
“We’ll see in the summer, we’ll see what happens before the deadline,” he added of his future. “But I like it here, for sure.”
Debuting in the NHL in 2019 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mikheyev has 91 goals and 188 points in 401 career games.
The rebuilding Blackhawks have fallen to eight points back of the Seattle Kraken for the final wild-card spot and are on track to miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season and eighth time in the past nine years.