<p>The <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/winnipeg-jets/line-combinations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Winnipeg Jets</a> and <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/chicago-blackhawks/line-combinations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chicago Blackhawks</a> have completed a deal that will send defenseman Isaak Phillips to the Jets and defenseman Dmitry Kuzmin to the Blackhawks, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.</p>



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/NHLJets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NHLJets</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/NHLBlackhawks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NHLBlackhawks</a> finalizing a trade.  Dmitry Kuzmin from Winnipeg to Chicago for Isaak Phillips.</p>— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1879585993667535226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2025</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>The trade is mostly made on behalf the Blackhawks and Jets’ respective AHL affiliates, the Rockford IceHogs and Manitoba Moose. There isn’t a clear narrative to this trade, but the IceHogs get a defensemen who’s developing into a solid shutdown defender at the AHL level in Kuzmin, while the Moose get a player who is a couple years older, but also comes with more NHL upside with 56 games in the big leagues already in Phillips.</p>



<p>Phillips has played 3 games with the Blackhawks this season, with 1 goal in that brief stint with the team. He’s spent a majority of his season in the AHL with the IceHogs, where he has 1 goal and 7 assists for 8 points in 28 games.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="171"></div>



<p>Phillips was a fifth-round pick for the Blackhawks in the 2020 NHL Draft out of the OHL, making their AHL roster the following season with the OHL’s 2020-21 season being cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. It took Phillips just one year to make his NHL debut, as he achieved that early on in the 2021-22 season. He’s since spent the past four seasons between the NHL and AHL, with the 2023-24 season giving him the most NHL action with 33 games.</p>



<p>Phillips is currently signed to a one-year, $775,000 contract and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at the end of the season.</p>



<p>Kuzmin has spent the entirety of the season in the AHL with the Moose, where he has 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points in 21 games.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="134"></div>



<p>Kuzmin was a third-round pick for the Jets in the 2021 NHL Draft out of Belarus. After two seasons in the OHL, he graduated to the AHL in the 2023-24 season, and after spending the year between the AHL and ECHL, he’s secured an AHL role this season.</p>



<p>Kuzmin is currently in the second year of his three-year entry-level contract with a $795,556 cap hit.</p>


Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Isaak Phillips (41) during warmups before a game against the Minnesota Wild at United Center.