CHICAGO — The wheeling and dealing is starting to gain full speed after the trade freeze was lifted following Wednesday’s Expansion Draft.

The Blackhawks annual summer cap space clearing continued on Friday as the draft hosts sent Niklas Hjalmarsson to Arizona and 2016 Calder Trophy winner Artemi Panarin to Columbus while reacquiring Brandon Saad. That came one day after former Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli sent Jordan Eberle from Edmonton to the Islanders in exchange for Ryan Strome.

Chiarelli’s successor, Don Sweeney, is hoping to make a splash of his own as the clock ticks on Friday’s Entry Draft at the United Center.

Entering his third Entry Draft, Sweeney has been open to trading the 18th overall pick. Given that he is looking to fill the Bruins’ two biggest needs this off-season in a top-six left winger and a top-four left shot defenseman and a projected draft class that isn’t as strong as the past two years, one can understand Sweeney’s logic.

Whether Sweeney can move the pick or not on the draft floor – or prior to the start of the event – remains to be seen. But unlike past years, the Bruins GM feels comfortable right now with their position.

“We feel good about where we’re picking right now,” Sweeney told the press during his pre-Draft media availability on Thursday. “We’ve had some talks in moving in either direction and moving the pick, as I said before. So we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and tomorrow.”

If Sweeney can’t move the 18th pick, then he’ll likely take the best available player on the board. That selection will probably be at least a year or two away from starting his professional hockey career.

The need for a young, left shot defenseman like former Boston College standout and local product Noah Hanafin, Tyson Barrie or Marco Scandella trumps whatever player the Bruins select at 18 – at least in the short term. But even if they can’t get the veteran with the enticement of the 18th pick, there’s still a chance Sweeney can swap his first round pick with an exchange of moving down in the first round on Friday night.

“[Scouts] are excited about the players that are potentially available at that spot. We’ve got players on either side of where we pick,” Sweeney said. “And movement wise if we went up in the draft, but more likely moving back to a player we think potentially might still be there and some value as a result of that.”

Projected players that could be available at 18th overall include right winger Owen Tippett (Mississauga, OHL), center Linas Andersson (Sweden), left winger Kristian Vesalainen (Finland) and defenseman Callan Foote (Kelowna, OHL), just to name a few.