The Chicago Blackhawks have traded winger Anthony Beauvillier to the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2024 fifth-round draft pick, it was announced Thursday.
With a hefty three-year contract worth $4.15 million annually coming to an end, and with the Blackhawks eyeing next season, there figured to be a decent number of teams kicking the tires on Beauvillier, 26, a versatile forward comfortable on either wing.
Though his numbers have dipped since leaving the New York Islanders, the 2015 first-round selection was once a key cog in their balanced offensive system. From 2017 through 2021, he scored at least 15 goals for New York, and he finished with 21 in 71 games in 2017-18.
He played for the Islanders for seven seasons before landing with the Vancouver Canucks and eventually the Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks now have nine picks in the 2024 NHL draft, including seven picks in the first three rounds.