In the wake of the Kirby Dach injury and uncertainty around how long he may be sidelined along with Alexander Nylander’s extended absence, the Chicago Blackhawks have decided to bring in a veteran replacement. Center Carl Soderberg has signed a one-year, $1MM contract, the club announced.
The deal represents a significant pay cut after playing on a $4.75MM cap hit for the past five years and comes in well below our initial one-year, $3MM projection when he was slotted in at 24th on our Top 50 UFA list. GM Stan Bowman released the following statement about his newest player:
Carl is an experienced center who plays a strong two-way game and adds an element of size to our group of centermen. He has shown the ability to score and match up, which is critical in today’s game, and he also brings consistency and versatility to the team, evidenced by his usage on both special teams as well as even-strength play.
The 35-year-old could prove to be an immense bargain as he’s coming off a 35-point season, his sixth season in the last seven with at least that many points. That feat is even more impressive considering that he’s legally blind in his left eye. Soderberg should have an opportunity to play in an offensive-oriented role with Dach being on the shelf for the foreseeable future and will likely slot in somewhere on their second or third line; getting a player for that role for this low of a price tag is a nice piece of business for Bowman.
Chicago’s offseason work is not yet complete, however, as RFA center Dylan Strome is still in need of a new contract. The Blackhawks still have more than $4MM in cap room at their disposal so they’ll have enough room to get that deal done and head into next season with some financial flexibility which is something that can’t be said for some of their divisional counterparts.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report the signing.
Great deal for a solid 3/4th C. Dach is probably done for the ya that wrist is super broke
I like this move a lot, seems destined for 3C because we are certainly signing strome for 2C with dach out, really sucks I was elated to see dach continue his growth, wallmark and soderberg should really help the PK too, line projections are gettin interesting
Not a bad move for the Hawks, and I could definitely see him getting flipped at the deadline if he plays well.
Nice pickup for the hawks. All above comment’s make sense.comment’s . Always liked he could play up&down the lineup