Oilers get: Centre Jason Dickinson, forward Colton Dach

Blackhawks get: Forward Andrew Mangiapane, first-round pick in 2027

Jason Dickinson has been a very good defensive player on a very poor defensive team. He routinely drew the toughest matchups as the anchor of the Blackhawks’ third line, but routinely had some of the best results on the team. Only 25 percent of Dickinson’s shifts started in the offensive zone, the ninth-fewest among NHL forwards. Yet Dickinson had a 50.77 percent Corsi and a respectable 46.6 percent expected-goals share, well above his teammates’ numbers despite their easier usage. The Blackhawks gave up the fewest scoring chances per hour and the second-fewest high-danger chances per hour with Dickinson on the ice.

With Edmonton, he’ll slot in as the third-line center, giving the Oilers two solid bottom-six centers in Dickinson and Adam Henrique to complement Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at the top of the lineup. But there are concerns with Dickinson, too. The biggest one is his penchant for getting hurt. Perhaps it’s because of his shot-blocking, defensive style, but Dickinson missed 23 games last season and has missed 15 games this season with a variety of nagging injuries. Also, his offense has dried up almost completely. After spiking a career-high 22-goal season in 2023-24 — when he played in all 82 games — he’s managed just 13 goals and 16 assists over the past two seasons combined. His defense is his bread and butter, but he’s not the same two-way player who garnered some peripheral Selke Trophy attention just a couple years ago.

Colton Dach, meanwhile, is a physical young player who’s been locked into a fourth-line role with the Blackhawks. The younger brother of Montreal’s Kirby Dach, the native of the Edmonton suburbs was drafted by Stan Bowman in the second round of the 2021 draft. He has some skill to his game, but hasn’t shown it often enough. He was about to get crowded out of the lineup by the bevy of young forwards on their way to Chicago, including Nick Lardis, No. 3 pick Anton Frondell and the KHL’s leading scorer, Roman Kantserov. He’s a little more than an AHL/NHL tweener, but a little less than an entrenched bottom-sixer.

The optics aren’t great from the Edmonton side of things. Just a few years ago, the Vancouver Canucks gave Chicago a second-round pick just to take Dickinson off their hands. Now, the Oilers are giving the Blackhawks a first-round pick in 2027 (it’s top-12 protected, which shouldn’t be an issue) just to pry Dickinson out of their hands. So either Kyle Davidson is a genius, Stan Bowman is a poor negotiator, or the Canucks are lousy talent evaluators. The truth likely lies somewhere in between all that.

Of course, the trade didn’t happen in a vacuum. Bowman had to get out from underneath the Mangiapane contract, which has been a disaster for Edmonton. Mangiapane, just four years removed from a 35-goal season in Calgary, has seven goals in 52 games this season, and was just put on waivers and sent to AHL Bakersfield. And he’s signed through next season. So shedding that contract is no small thing for Edmonton. For Chicago, it’s a non-issue; the Blackhawks are still two or three years away from having to worry about the salary cap instead of the salary floor. So Davidson can choose to buy out Mangiapane over the summer, bury him in Rockford, or simply hope he regains his scoring touch next season. No harm, no foul. The only real concern is that Davidson has now used all three of his retention slots (Seth Jones, Connor Murphy, Dickinson).

The fact is, Edmonton has to win. Now. The clock has been ticking on McDavid ever since he signed that two-year prove-something-to-me extension last fall. Murphy and Dickinson are both solid, reliable defensive players on a team that needs some reliability and defense. Their games should translate well to the physicality and tight-checking style of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But are they difference makers? Are they worth first- and second-rounders? Is that the best Edmonton, which now has no first-round picks this year or next, could do? We’ll find out soon enough.

Oilers grade: B-Blackhawks grade: A-