Blackhawks trade Jason Dickinson, Colton Dach to Oilers for Andrew Mangiapane, pick

The Chicago Blackhawks have traded forwards Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach to the Edmonton Oilers for forward Andrew Mangiapane and a conditional 2027 first-round pick. Dickinson is on an expiring contract as a pending unrestricted free agent, and the Blackhawks will retain 50% of his $4.25 million cap hit. The draft pick is top-12 protected.

The 30-year-old Dickinson has six goals and 13 points in 47 games this season. Dickinson figures to slot in as Edmonton’s third-line center and assume a checking role, allowing Adam Henrique to center the fourth line.

Dach, 23, was drafted in 2021 by current Oilers general manager Stan Bowman when he was the Blackhawks GM. A native of the Edmonton area, Dach is in the final year of his entry-level deal. He has three goals and nine points in 53 NHL games this season.

Mangiapane, 29, is signed through the 2026-27 season with a $3.6 cap hit. He has seven goals and 14 points in 52 games this season. He was recently assigned to the AHL by the Oilers after clearing waivers.

The Blackhawks are again near the bottom of the NHL standings as they continue their methodical rebuild. Dickinson is no longer part of those plans, though he said he had been open to re-signing with Chicago.

“I love the guys, I love the group,” he said in January.

With a young group of centers around him, Dickinson was utilized by the Blackhawks in a shutdown-center role. He had a 27.72 offensive starting percentage this season, which is the 10th lowest in the NHL among players with a minimum of 500 five-on-five minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick. Despite that, Dickinson and his line often tilted the ice in the Blackhawks’ advantage. He had a team-best 50.77 Corsi percentage (minimum 25 games). He’s also taken a team-high 691 faceoffs this season and won 49.5%.

When the Blackhawks were without Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar due to injuries, Dickinson carried an even larger role.

“He’s definitely taken on a good spot of responsibility in terms of a lot of times he’s out there against the other team’s really good players,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said in January. “He’s had more of those matchups on a consistent basis, which is a hard thing. When you make a mistake against a fourth-line player, they may not make you pay in terms of expected goals than when you make it against an elite player. Plus, sometimes they just make plays that really have nothing to do with you. They just make great plays. He has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. Dickey’s done a good job. Love his leadership, love his attitude. He’s a self-accountable person who just wants to win and have been real impressed with him.”

Dickinson has factored into the Blackhawks’ penalty kill, which ranks first in the league. He’s fourth among the team’s forwards in short-handed ice time.

The biggest question around Dickinson is whether he can stay healthy. That’s been a challenge for him the last two seasons. He played 59 games last season and has played 47 so far this season.

Dickinson broke out with 22 goals three seasons ago, but he hasn’t come close to matching that in seasons since. He scored seven goals last season and has six this season.

The Blackhawks now have zero salary-cap retention spots remaining. They used one on Seth Jones last season and another on Connor Murphy earlier this week in a trade with the Oilers.

The Oilers had to include Mangiapane, who is signed through the 2026-27 season and has a $3.6 million cap hit, in the deal in order to make the math work, and the Blackhawks received a better draft pick as a sweetener for taking on his salary. The Blackhawks can either buy out Mangiapane over the summer, bury him in the minors or hope he has a bounce-back season. While a modest scorer in recent seasons, he did post a career-high 35 goals in 2021-22 with the Calgary Flames. Cap space is not a concern for Chicago, and won’t be for at least another couple of years.

The Blackhawks continued to accumulate early-round draft picks. They possess two first-round and three second-round picks in 2026, two first-round and two second-round picks in 2027 and one first-round and two second-round picks in 2028. That is on top of the 11 first-round and five second-round picks Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson made in the previous four drafts.

© 2026 The Athletic Media Company. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by New York Times Licensing.