July 12: Both players have cleared waivers and will be bought out today, making them unrestricted free agents.
July 11: The Chicago Blackhawks have started the buyout process for two players, placing Henrik Borgstrom and Brett Connolly on unconditional waivers today. Because he is under the age of 25, the team will only be on the hook for one-third of Borgstrom’s remaining salary. As a result, they will receive the following cap penalties moving forward:
- 2022-23: $1,166,667 (Connolly) + $83,334 (Borgstrom)
- 2023-24: $1,166,667 (Connolly) + $183,334 (Borgstrom)
The two forwards actually arrived in Chicago the same way, through a trade with the Florida Panthers in 2021 that saw Lucas Wallmark and Lucas Carlsson go the other way. While Riley Stillman remains from that deal, it was Borgstrom that was considered a big part of the return, having been a first-round pick by the Panthers in 2016.
After just 52 games with Chicago he’ll hit the market as an unrestricted free agent, an interesting addition just before things open up on Wednesday. While he has just 26 points in 110 games, Borgstrom is still just 24 (he’ll turn 25 next month) and possesses an interesting skill/size mix that could intrigue some teams.
Connolly meanwhile has a much longer track record at the NHL level but not a very good one the last few years. He scored 19 goals and 33 points in 2019-20 but then was an absolute ghost during the 2020-21 season, registering just six points in 31 total games. This season, he spent most of the year at the minor league level with the Rockford IceHogs and although he performed well there, it’s not much of a platform for a free agent deal.
These buyouts continue general manager Kyle Davidson’s rapid house cleaning, and represent another head-scratching move for the young executive. Borgstrom’s contract, which had just one year left on it and carried a cap hit of $1MM, could have been buried entirely in the minor leagues. This buyout will save them around $733K in actual dollars, but now actually has a slightly negative effect on the cap situation.
In fact, it wouldn’t be entirely unreasonable to see a team claim Borgstrom before the buyout can be finalized tomorrow, given how little risk would be involved.
Now’s the chance for EDM to jump on Borgstrom as their Puljujarvi replacement. Some there have been hoping to get him via trade, but thanks to Puljujarvi’s nearly worthless stock, it never happened. Unfortunately for Borgstrom, his all-around game needs to get up to a minimally acceptable NHL level, otherwise he’ll be headed to the European Tour.
If they claimed him on waivers Davidson would be the happiest guy in town. He’d be off the hook entirely. Nobody is taking Connelly.
@Mac – At the rate the Hawks are going, you and I may be in their starting line-up on opening day! :O
On a side note, I made the bigtime yesterday by getting on the NHL SiriusXM Sunday Brunch show! :D
@Gbear – Currently, I can’t skate my ass out of a wet paper bag, which means 13th forward, at best. :(
And, on that side note, you…scurvy…dog! That is big-time! Congrats, man!
@Mac – When you’re tanking for that #1 pick, lack of skating ability is an asset! :D
@Gbear – That’s right! At least with Luke on the bench, he’s still in plenty good shape to jump over the boards if we get outnumbered in the corners. Maybe the opposition will just think “we don’t need to forecheck, they’ll hem themselves in, then just abandon the puck for a line change.”
I did want to ask if that Sirius/XM show was on podcast, since there has been so much COVID-caused turmoil with shows on many networks.
Not sure. I know they replayed the show at least 3 times yesterday (so I got to hear what I sound like on radio, lol!). Dave McCarthy is the host if that helps.
@Gbear – I’ve been looking around off and on since I posted that, and I have turned up nothing but dead ends. Did you record your appearance on a PC, at least? (For posterity, of course!)
-Signed,
“The guy with a face for radio and a voice for silent movies”
[Not a silent voice on a certain hockey forum. :) ]
No, no recording was made (my vanity has its limits, lol!). It is available on the SiriusXM app on demand page if that helps.
@Gbear – Which requires the old paid subscription, right? I finally found the info on their plans, but the number for the middle plan doesn’t work within my limited budget. I’d probably switch ISPs to get to 500Mbps for a few dollars more than what I’m paying now for less than 1/33 the speed. I’m going to get a screenshot of that info for future reference, anyhow. Thanks!
You could try a 3 month free trial perhaps? :)
link to siriusxm.com
@Gbear – I did consider that option. Unfortunately, I only gamble on eBay and Amazon purchases! I’ve seen many a horror story about services deciding to “accidentally” pull the blackout crap or refusing to accept a cancellation of service. We had a subscription to a newspaper several years ago, and decided to cancel due to their ever-escalating greed-gouge prices. They decided to declare war on everybody that pulled the rug out from under them, and tried to harass the crap out of their now ex-customers. It didn’t work, and I narc’d them to the BBB. I honestly don’t have a subscription to anything anymore, which is kind of weird to think, after years of having at least something paid for on a monthly basis.
Yeah, I’ve certainly lived that nighmare before, though I will say that SiriusXM has been pretty good on not doing stuff like that. They generally try to keep you by offering really good deals. My full access plan runs at about $10.00 a month.
@Gbear – I’ll keep that in mind for the future, in case some random trinkets fall into my coffers sometime down the road. In my case, I would only be listening to on-demand stuff that is done before I get up in the morning, or on the weekends. But, it’s always good to hear the rare (these days, at least) ringing endorsement for any product or service. BTW, is that the “Streaming Platinum” plan I see?
They have a streaming only plan for $7.99 a month too. Now I sound like a salesman for the network, lol!
@Gbear – That $7.99 plan doesn’t appear to get you live games, which can usually be had via NHL.com on most game nights, assuming they don’t screw up the links, as happens several times a season. Is it still good for NHL Network Radio, though (just shows)?
Best I can tell (though I wish they more clearly noted the channel lineup), you get the NHL channel (which carries games every night during the season) but not each teams unique channel.
@Gbear – If NHL.com didn’t have that audio option for most games (I still believe a home market blackout can be sidestepped with a VPN), then the $10.99 plan would work. But for me, it’s still a little tough to justify as I can always pick another game, with different online access (TuneIn, iHeart, radiostationusa.fm, TSN, SportsNet). Considering satellite TV options, though, it’s a great deal, especially the top package. Thanks again for the extra food for thought!
On 2nd look, the NHL channel is only available on the $10.99 package. Boo on them!
Davidson is taking a Ryan Poles approach to this whole mess. By eating all the bad this year and starting fresh next year. He’s proclaimed that he’s all in to eat bad cap to start fresh next year when he’ll have at least another 21 million in space when Kane and Toews come off the ledger. He’s telling the league, that if you want Kane or Toews you better come with an offer or I’ll just let it ride til next year because he’s basically stuck by the No Movement clauses in their contracts. He’s also telling Kane and Toews if you want to leave you better work with me or you can stay and play with 1 million dollar guys and then do what you want. Davidson holds all the cards here. Let’s face it, Borgstrom was well on his way to being a bust and Connelly actually is a bust so nothing lost here. If he’s willing to trade Debrincat, Hagel and Dach he’s not planning on being a big player in FA. You’re not going to find good young players in FA because they NEVER get there.
Sure, but tearing it down is the easy part, building it back up is the hard part. He’s already traded his best asset and he got hosed (I’ve been mostly positive on KD, but the Cat trade was the most consequential trade and by far his worst trade). Toews has no trade value and he doesn’t have a lot of leverage as it pertains to Kane (sure the Hawks could keep Kane, but how does keeping him help their future?). They need to trade Kane, but I’m not sure they’re going to get a huge haul. So congrats on being an early frontrunner for Bedard, I guess. But what’s the plan other than getting some ping pong balls bouncing the Hawks’ way? Bedard/Michkov/Fantilli is the only thing that might prevent this from being a decade long rebuild. There is no plan if the Hawks land #4 or worse in next year’s draft.
The plan is obviously to get as many draft picks for 23 and 24 to make moves in those drafts IF the ping pong balls don’t go their way. To get Kane it’s going to take at least a 1st round next year as they already have 2 firsts and 2 seconds next year. And if you want the Hawks to eat salary you better come with a lot more. You don’t get good young players in FA and it’s not the way they’re going anyway. Toews is a different story and even though if he leaves they won’t have anybody who can win a faceoff, I’m sure Davidson would take anything he can get for him. Again the point is if you want the Hawks to eat salary, they’re willing but only if you bring draft picks or a good young player who they like.
Yeah I’m mostly with you but I just don’t think anybody would trade out of those top 3 picks next year. Kane should land a 1st, but it’ll be a late 1st. I don’t think #4 + (#20-30) +(#20-30) even gets you to #3 next year. Maybe I’m wrong, and even if they can’t, having 3 decent young prospects is still helpful, but unfortunately I’m just not sure the teardown is going to net enough young pieces to accelerate the rebuild all that much.
Well it will definitely be a late first because Kane isn’t waving his no trade to go to a lottery team. But they still have value as it’s supposed to be a very deep draft. If for some reason they don’t land in the top 3, More is going to be better. I’m excited about Korchinski as he would be the first D-Man the Hawks have had since Brian Campbell who can actually carry the puck out of his own zone.
Out of all of this mess there, *IF* they do win the draft lottery and pick Bedard, maybe the hockey gods can encourage him not to sign, just because they will have created the biggest tire fire in the league. That’d be some poetic justice.
Ahhhh, just trade Jones for Nylander + Holl. Seth is ready to waive too!
@Johnny Z – Or “wave”, as in waving the late Roger Neilson’s famous white flag!
This is going to be a 10 year rebuild. Davidson better hope that he found some cornerstone pieces this draft, otherwise Hawks will be irrelevant for a very long time.
It’s obvious he is tanking for Bedard. Part of me hopes the Hawks draft 4th next and miss out on all these generation talents. It would serve this franchise right for doing this to Toews and Kane.
@donopolis – Do you get the feeling the ‘Hawks are crapping on the fans with all of this and not even considering apologizing? At least the Rangers’ brass put out the preemptive apology for a rebuild that went a lot faster than even they thought.
I remember a mass hysteria with people demanding to fire half the league executives and coaches last season in chicago. Welp i think it’s safe to say that new management wanna tear it all up completely asap so nothing remains of old hawks and now those lunatics wondering “whats goin on in chicago?”. You got what you wished for didnt ya people?