Team: Chicago Blackhawks
Last Season: 26-49-7 (82GP)
This Season: 17-43-5 (65GP)
Team Building Status: Re-stocking
The Blackhawks were already well into a ‘tear-it-down-to-the-studs’ rebuild going into the 2023 offseason. They had made the decision that Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews would not be back after their contracts expired and gutted the NHL roster. A bevy of draft picks was piling up to restock their prospect pool with.
Notable Recent Transactions:
2023 Offseason
May 8, 2023 – NHL Draft Lottery: The Blackhawks won the draft lottery and the moved up to the first overall selection in the 2023 draft.
Trade: June 26, 2023 – Acquired Taylor Hall (2y x $6MM remaining) and the rights to pending UFA Nick Foligno from the Bruins for Alec Regula and Ian Mitchell. Chicago then signed newly acquired Foligno to a 1 year, $4MM contract the next day.
Draft: June 28, 2023 – Selected Connor Bedard with the first overall pick.
June 29, 2023: Trade – Acquired Josh Bailey (1y x $5MM remaining) from the Islanders, along with a 2nd round pick, in exchange for future considerations. Chicago then bought out the final year of Bailey’s contract.
June 29, 2023: Trade – Acquired pending UFA Corey Perry’s rights from the Lightning for a 7th round pick. They signed Perry to a 1y, $4MM contract on June 30. Perry’s contract was subsequently terminated in November after an off-ice incident.
July 1, 2023: Signing – Ryan Donato signed with the Blackhawks on the opening day of free agency on a 2 year deal with a $2MM cap hit.
July 17, 2023: Signing – 1st overall pick Connor Bedard signed an ELC with the ‘Hawks.
July 23, 2023: Signing – Signed RFA Philipp Kurashev to a 2 year deal with a $2.25MM cap hit.
2023-2024 Season
Nov 28, 2023: Trade – Acquired Anthony Beauvillier from the Canucks for a 2024 5th round pick.
Jan 12, 2024: Signing – Nick Foligno signed a 2 year extension with a $4.5MM cap hit on a 35+ deal.
Jan 16, 2024: Signing – Signed Jason Dickinson to a 2 year extension with a $4.25MM cap hit.
Jan 24, 2024: Signing – Signed Petr Mrazek to a 2 year extension with a $4.25MM cap hit.
Mar 7, 2024: Trade – Traded Anthony Beauvillier to the Nashville Predators for a 2024 5th round pick.
Roster Ruminations
NHL Roster Strength
Clearly, it’s not about the strength of the NHL roster in Chicago right now. The studs are bare. A few of them might be rotten. This team has a long way to go before it will resemble a contender again. But there really isn’t further down to go. Their only trade 2024 deadline deal was to send Anthony Beauvillier to Nashville to recoup the 5th round pick they paid to acquire Beauvillier earlier in the season. There’s nothing left on the NHL roster worth selling.
Salary Cap Management
The Blackhawks have kept their spending down while they bottom out, which will preserve cap space for when their wave of prospects start to mature into full time NHLers and require raises. They were also able to weaponize their extra cap space to acquire a 2nd round pick in the Josh Bailey trade. Sure, the buyout will be on the books for another season, but they aren’t ready to contend yet anyway.
Chicago also seems to have landed on $4MM as the cap hit that every veteran NHL player should earn. Perhaps none of Nick Foligno, Petr Mrazek, Corey Perry or Jason Dickinson were worth that cap hit, but it does ensure that the team can hit the cap floor without risking having an accidentally good season. The veterans they’ve signed are all on one or two year deals, so they’re just there as roster filler as the team restocks.
Future Assets
The Blackhawks made 11 picks in the 2023 draft, headlined by the first overall selection after they won the draft lottery. They also had another pick in the first round and three in the second round. Their prospect pool got a big boost, but they aren’t done yet. They currently have 27 picks in the next three drafts, including five first rounders and eight second rounders.
What’s Next?
While the teardown appears to be complete, it’s clear that the Blackhawks have no intention of start to climb out of the cellar just yet. Their penchant for signing depth NHL veterans to $4MM cap hits over the past year looks like a determined effort to reach the cap floor without risking their odds at earning high first round draft picks for another year or two. Their cache of upcoming draft picks suggests they’re still fully in re-stocking mode.
Given how far the teardown went, that seems like the only reasonable course of action. Chicago’s draft lottery luck landed them Connor Bedard but he needs a supporting cast to turn things around. Kevin Korchinski and Lukas Reichel look like good bets to be a part of that group and there are other promising prospects in the system. The draft picks they’ve stockpiled for the next few drafts will help round out that cohort and finishing near the bottom of the standings to earn a few more high first round picks will give them a real chance to build up some future star power.
Chicago has a ton of cap space going into the offseason and they could certainly afford to weaponize some of it to continue accruing future assets. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them take on another bad contract like they did with Josh Bailey last summer to acquire another future asset.
They also likely won’t be big players in free agency. More likely, we’ll see similar signings as we’ve seen from them over the past year that simply help keep them above the cap floor. Any veteran UFA depth player looking for a healthy paycheck would be wise to check in with the ‘Hawks this summer.
The 2024-2025 season is likely to be another rough one for Blackhawks fans. The next wave of talent appears to be on it’s way though, it just has a long road to travel to bring the Blackhawks back into contention.
