Report: NHL Warns Teams Over Blackhawks' Ilya Mikheyev Situation

Friday, May 29, 2026 ,


 

Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson's hubris may have yielded unintended consequences with the NHL this week.

It was announced that the team shopped forward Ilya Mikheyev's rights, before he reached unrestricted free agent status, attempting to gauge interest in the bottom-six forward. 

"I guess it was let known across the league that Chicago probably isn't going to be able to sign Ilya Mikheyev," Friedman said. "His rights are available if any team wants to talk to him in advance of free agency."

The idea itself was exploratory in nature for GM Davidson and the Blackhawks, which they thought was harmless. However, the NHL was quick to respond to what could've ended up being a tampering charge for the original six team. 

If a team is found to be guilty of tampering, we could see the team lose $5 million or draft picks for a violation of league policy. 

“The league's like, no, that's not allowed," Friedman said on letting Mikheyev speak to other teams before trading his rights. "If you want to straight-up trade his rights to another team for a pick, you do that. You can't just give him permission to talk to everybody.”

  

Mikheyev was acquired in trade by the Blackhawks from the Vancouver Canucks on June 26th, 2024, with forward Sam Lafferty for a 2027-4th round pick. 

Mikheyev quickly found a home in the team's bottom-six, and found utilization on the team's top-six in cases of injury, and when Jeff Blashill tried to find the right linemate for Blackhawks superstar Connor Bedard. 

The Russian-born forward established himself as a top-defensive forward in the NHL, with production that could help other teams address their secondary scoring.  In 2024-25, he scored 20 goals and 34 points, and followed it up with an 18-goal, 36-point season by the 31-year-old forward. 

Will GM Kyle Davidson and the Blackhawks have to pay up for their mistakes, or will they let it slide, considering the sordid history of the original six organization? 


Steven Bisig-Imagn Images



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