Bickell and talented young forward Teuvo Teravainen were dealt to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday in exchange for a second-round draft selection in 2016 and a third-round pick in 2017.
The Blackhawks had been exploring opportunities to move Bickell and his eyesore of a contract since not long after he inked his four-year, $16-million extension for a breakout performance in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Bickell racked up just 45 points in three seasons since signing the deal and spent the majority of last season in the American Hockey League, gobbling up a significant portion of the Blackhawks' cap.
Losing Teravainen is no minor consequence, but the 21-year-old Finn didn't catch on with the club's top six as quickly as many anticipated. He contributed 13 goals and 35 points in his first full season in Chicago's top nine.
Carolina maintains six picks in the first three rounds of this upcoming draft, three in the first two rounds in 2017, and has only about $45 million tied up in player contracts for this upcoming season.
Hockey Night in Canada's Punjabi broadcasters, or the men who made the most of Nick Bonino's surname throughout the postseason, met the Pittsburgh Penguins before their Stanley Cup parade on Wednesday.
It didn't take long, of course, before they were encouraged to recreate their genius.
It might not garner a parade, but the Stanley Cup appears to be on its way back to Toronto.
Phil Kessel says he's strongly considering bringing it to the city this summer when he gets his 24 hours with the trophy.
"I haven't fully decided, but I have a lot of friends in Toronto and that's where I've spent most of my time (in the NHL)," the Pittsburgh Penguins forward told Sportsnet 590 The FAN on Wednesday.
"I probably will end up bringing it back there. Nothing's been decided, but I think there's a good chance that it'll happen."
Kessel spent six tumultuous seasons with the Maple Leafs before being traded to the Penguins last July.
"It's been a whirlwind, a lot of changes in my life, and obviously I wouldn't change this for anything ... it's unbelievable," he said Wednesday.
He notched 10 goals and 22 points in 24 playoff games this spring, and many felt he deserved the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason MVP, an honor that went to Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.
Kessel posted 26 goals and 59 points in his first regular season with Pittsburgh. He authored four 30-goal seasons with the Maple Leafs, including 37-goal campaigns in 2011-12 and 2013-14.
The 28-year-old winger had nothing but praise for the fans in Toronto.
"They always treated me great. I loved the city there and I'll always cherish my time there," Kessel said.
He added that he'll "for sure" be back in Toronto for OVO Fest, the music festival hosted by Drake's record label, OVO Sound, in late July and early August.
The contract will reportedly pay the restricted free agent $2.075 million per season.
Sheahan, 24, scored a career-best 14 goals last season, but did take a step back in overall production, netting a modest 25 points in 81 games.
The former first-round draft pick hasn't proven he can be a consistent top-six contributor for Detroit, and seems at risk of being overrun by the organization's prospects. But the Wings apparently think enough of Sheahan's work down the middle and in a bottom-six role to have him continue working toward becoming a consistent offensive contributor.
The Ducks made a splash on Tuesday by announcing the return of Randy Carlyle as the team's head coach. For the 60-year-old it marks the second time he has manned the head coaching position in Anaheim, doing so from 2005-12.
While the rehire might come as a surprise - given his firing after just 24 games in 2012 - it's not first time a team has elected to reintroduce a former coach.
Here are five other coaches that saw teams bring them on for more than one tenure:
The 49-year-old coached the club for 13 years, but not all in succession. Maurice joined the franchise in 1995 when it was the Hartford Whalers, remaining with the club after its move to Carolina in 1997.
He would remain with the team until 2004 - helping the team reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2002 - when he was fired after 30 games. After stints in the American Hockey League and two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he rejoined the Hurricanes for the 2008-09 season.
He would remain until the 2011-12 campaign where - after another slow start - Maurice was canned after going 8-13-4 in 25 games.
Jacques Lemaire
Jacques Lemaire's story with the New Jersey Devils is one of trying to rekindle what was once great.
Lemaire coached five seasons with the Devils from 1993-98, capturing the Stanley Cup during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. Lemaire was let go by the Devils after his division-winning club bowed out in the first round in 1998.
After joining the Minnesota Wild for eight years until 2009, he rejoined the Devils for the 2009-10 season. Lemaire would lead the team to a first-place finish in his first year, retiring thereafter. However, just when you thought he was out, they bring him right back in.
Lemaire took over the following season for a struggling John MacLean for the remaining 49 games, where he would go an impressive 29-17-3 before finally calling it a career.
John Tortorella
It might not be well known, but John Tortorella's stint with the New York Rangers from 2008-13 wasn't his first.
John Muckler was fired with just four games remaining in the 1999-00 season as the club failed to make the playoffs for the third straight year.
In firing Muckler, the team named Tortorella interim head coach for the remaining four games. Ron Lowe was hired as the team's head coach the next year and Tortorella joined the Tampa Bay Lightning midway through the season.
He would return to the Rangers in 2009, replacing Tom Renney and we all know how that went.
Punch Imlach
Punch Imlach coached the Toronto Maple Leafs through arguably their most successful seasons in franchise history.
Imlach joined the club at 40 years old for the 1958-59 season and three years later lead the club to its first of three consecutive Stanley Cup victories.
He would collect his fourth Cup - and the franchise's last - in 1967. But after missing the postseason the following year and being swept in the first round after that, his reign with the club was over.
That was until 11 years later when he rejoined the Maple Leafs as the club's new general manager. Imlach would hire Floyd Smith who - after 68 games - was injured in a car accident. Dick Duff served as interim head coach for two games before Imlach took over for the final 10 contests, going 5-5-0.
Michel Therrien enjoyed his first three seasons as a head coach in the league with the Canadiens from 2000-03.
After being let go midway through the 2003 season, he joined the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2005 - Sidney Crosby's rookie year - for four seasons.
After failing to get the team no further than the Eastern Conference Final in 2008, he was fired midway through the 2009 season - the season the club captured its third Stanley Cup.
Therrien was reintroduced as the Canadiens head coach ahead of the 2012-13 lockout-shortened season and it's where he remains... for now.
The 2016 Stanley Cup Final was not watched by many.
The six-game series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks averaged four million viewers, making it the third lowest-rated final since 2006, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data.
As a point of comparison, the NBA Finals on ABC are averaging a 18.1 million viewers per game, reports Anthony Crupi of Ad Age.
Part of the issue was that Games 2 and 3 were aired on NBCSN instead of NBC, with the former reaching only about 70 percent of all TV homes in the U.S.
On top of that, the series-deciding Game 6 went head-to-head with "Game Of Thrones"; hockey drew 5.41 million viewers in the most-watched match of the series, but those numbers were dwarfed by Thrones, as the fantasy drama was watched by 7.6 million.
Perhaps if the Sharks could have pulled a Jon Snow and came back from the dead to force a Game 7, there would have been an uptick.
Family, friends, and fans flocked to Detroit's Joe Louis Arena for Tuesday's public visitation for Gordie Howe, who passed away on June 10 at age 88.
The entry line began forming in the wee hours of the morning, and the folks who came to pay their respects to Mr. Hockey flowed in and out of the rink for almost 13 hours.
Here's a look at some of the last images from a truly remarkable event, beginning with the group of noteworthy pallbearers.
Wayne Gretzky, Scotty Bowman & Gordie Howe's sons were among Mr. Hockey's pallbearers this morning pic.twitter.com/4DXeUxp0mC
Howe's retired No. 9 and the Stanley Cup banners from his time with the Detroit Red Wings were lowered over the casket.
The line extended outside and around the building.
Once inside, the multi-generational crowd filed up to the stage, offering their condolences to the Howe family and their own personal tributes to the hockey legend.
Fans were also given the opportunity to write a note, with multiple large posters needed to meet the demand.
All those in attendance were given this commemorative pamphlet.
According to SI, the Howe cover will be delivered to subscribers in Detroit and Canada, and will be available in newsstands in Michigan and Canada, while the Penguins cover will be delivered to subscribers and newsstands across the rest of the United States.
A photo posted by emalkin71geno (@emalkin71geno) on
A photo seven years in the making.
As the celebrations around the Pittsburgh Penguins' second Stanley Cup win in the Evgeni Malkin / Sidney Crosby era continue, the pair joined for a most memorable photo, with a caption meant to read "Best friends."
The Penguins will parade Stanley through the streets of Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Keith Yandle looks destined to hit the open market.
The New York Rangers defenseman is coming off his first full season with the club - after being acquired last season from the Arizona Coyotes - and while both sides might like to come to an agreement, cap restrictions appear to have the team's hands tied.
Both sides have not had any contract talks and are unlikely to unless the Rangers are able to free up cap space, according to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun.
Yandle is coming off the final year of a five-year, $26.25-million contract and will become an unrestricted free agent. He led all Rangers defensemen with 47 points in 2015-16.
