The nucleus that's brought Chicago three Stanley Cups in the last nine years may or may not be nearing the end of its championship window. Does that make any of them bound for Seattle to help establish the NHL on the Puget Sound?

(My criteria are here, and my raw data derives primarily from capfriendly.com and hockeydb.com)

No Movement Clauses are a nice show of faith between player(s) and team, that they want to stay together long term for the benefit of both parties. That's when things are good. When they're not so good, they make meaningful roster changes that more difficult to accomplish. For example, here's the Blackhawks currently signed through 2020/2021:

Forwards: Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad, Artem Anisimov

Defensemen/Defecemen: Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Connor Murphy

Goalies: N/A

All of those guys except Anisimov and Murphy have helped Chicago win at least two Stanley Cups, four of them have been part of all three recent championship teams. One of the spoils of is those same four guys on all three teams (Toews, Seabrook, Kane and Keith, of course) have No Movement Clauses.

So really, we're choosing between Saad, Murphy and Anisimov. As badly as Chicago might want the cap relief, those main four guys aren't going anywhere. More than most teams, Chicago's going to want the cap room. I doubt it's a coincidence that Saad and Anisimov have been rumored as being possibly traded, since the latter has a modified No Trade Clause and the former no such protection (Murphy also has no clauses limited his availability, but the state of Chicago's defense makes him less expendable, for good or ill).

Anisimov's a good five years older than the other guys. Saad makes $6 million a year, significantly more than Murphy's $3.85 million or Anisimov's $4.55 million. So while Saad would provide the most cap relief, I'm guessing Seattle gets

Artem Anisimov (Center/Centre, Left Wing)

Why Chicago Would Expose Him: With Toews, Kane, Seabrook and Keith taking up almost $34 million in cap space between just the four of them (leaving somewhere around $45-50 million for the rest of the team), they're going to need to resort to any means possible to fit an adequate roster around those four. Believe me, I'm a Carolina Hurricanes fan.

While Saad would provide the most savings, he might very well be traded before then for that very reason. Key players like Corey Crawford and Alex DeBrincat will need new contracts, and the money's got to come from somewhere. The latter could very take up all of Anisimov's salary by himself.

Why Seattle Would Want Him:

Though he wouldn't have a championship pedigree, Anisimov would be a perfect useful middle-six forward who can reasonably be expected to score around twenty goals in a full season. And certainly several years in the Chicago locker room would be useful as far as setting up high expectations and good chemistry in a brand new locker room.

And with his contract expiring after the 20/21 season, he could make an incredibly interesting trade chip should Seattle not be competitive. That is the usual scenario for any pro sports expansion team not named the Las Vegas Golden Knights, after all.

Again, as a Carolina Hurricanes fan, let Chicago's cap room problems be your roster solutions as much as possible.