Stars get Domi, Wells in trade with Blackhawks

As expected, Max Domi became the latest player involved in the Chicago Blackhawks‘ flurry of moves with the forward being traded Thursday to the Dallas Stars, it was announced.

Domi, along with minor league goaltender Dylan Wells, went to the Stars in exchange for goalie Anton Khudobin and a 2025 second-round pick.

The trade itself was finalized shortly after Domi’s new team came away with a 5-2 victory against his old team. Domi was scratched for the game with the Blackhawks announcing he was being held out for roster management purposes.

Domi, who turned 28 on Thursday, joins the Stars at a time when they are in the hunt for both the Central Division and Western Conference regular-season titles. Beating the Blackhawks saw the Stars push their divisional lead to five points over the Minnesota Wild while having a one-point edge over the Vegas Golden Knights for the best record in the conference.

Even before the season started, there was an expectation that Domi could be traded for a number of reasons. The Blackhawks came into the season with the belief they would be closer to a lottery pick than a playoff spot.

And because of that, the team would be in a position to trade players, considering it had a number of pending unrestricted free agents along with players on team-friendly contracts who could be parlayed into draft capital.

Domi was part of a pending unrestricted free agent class that also featured Andreas Athanasiou, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. He signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Blackhawks in the offseason after spending the 2021-22 season with the Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Blackhawks opened the season winning four of their first six games. Since then, they have endured through five different losing streaks of more than four games with two of them being separate eight-game skids.

Domi still emerged to lead the team in scoring with 18 goals and 49 points while averaging 18:17 in ice time. He’s projected to score 67 points, which would be the second-most points in his career.

What might have been his strongest performance of the season might have also been an audition for the Stars. On Feb. 22, Domi scored two goals — including the winning goal — and finished with three points in a 4-3 win against the Stars.

Acquiring Domi means the Stars now have another top-six forward to bolster a team that is averaging 3.24 goals per game, which ranks 14th in the NHL. Most of those goals — 67% to be exact — have come from six players. Domi now gives the Stars another option while also being another power-play threat. Eighteen of his points this season have come on the extra-skater advantage, which could prove vital for a team that already has the No. 9 power play in the NHL with a 23.3% success rate.

Domi’s departure comes in what has been a hectic week for the Blackhawks. They have already traded Kane to the New York Rangers, forward Sam Lafferty and defenseman Jake McCabe to the Toronto Maple Leafs and defenseman Jack Johnson to the Colorado Avalanche.

The draft capital received in return for those trades has set the Blackhawks up to have 11 picks for the 2023 draft, nine picks for the 2024 draft and another nine picks for the 2025 draft.

But it’s not just about the total number of picks the Blackhawks own. They have two first-round picks in each of those drafts. They are also one of the strongest contenders to win this year’s draft lottery, as they have the second-fewest points in the NHL, and if they win the lottery, they would be in a position to take the presumed No. 1 pick in Connor Bedard.