The Chicago Blackhawks seem to have collected themselves after a rocky start to the 2014-15 season, winning three of the last four and generating consistent offense despite Patrick Sharp‘s absence from the lineup. Slowly but surely, a team that many picked as the premier Stanley Cup favorite heading into the year is starting to justify those praises. While it’s easy to develop tunnel vision and stubbornly refuse to look past this season, significant salary-cap troubles are on the horizon for Chicago. Thus, despite the organization’s “win now” mentality, it would be wise to look into trading Bryan Bickell as soon as possible.

The big winger would certainly receive interest on the trade market. He has been an excellent playoff performer for his entire career, notching 16 goals in his last two postseason runs and being one of the most dominant physical presences on Chicago’s roster. Bickell hasn’t been anywhere near as effective during the regular season, but teams looking to trade for him wouldn’t be doing so for the purpose of simply making the playoffs. A team trading for Bickell would be hoping to acquire the one final piece to put it over the top, and he can certainly be that.

Bickell’s annual $4 million is a bit pricey for the Blackhawks due to the litany of enormous contracts sitting on the organization’s future books, including a combined $21 million cap hit every year for Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane through 2022-23. Most teams aren’t in anywhere near as difficult a fiscal position as Chicago, however, and have the cap flexibility to take on Bickell’s contract without sacrificing the future. The Blackhawks should take advantage of this and flip No. 29 away in a trade while they still maintain at least some degree of leverage.

Sean Sarcu is a Chicago Blackhawks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter or add him to your network on Google.