Aug 18: The team has now officially announced the two-year entry-level contract. It will carry a $950K cap hit.
Aug 17: The Chicago Blackhawks front office certainly isn’t on vacation. After signing Jack Johnson late last night, the team is now expected to sign college free agent Cole Guttman according to Scott Powers of The Athletic.
Guttman, 23, was a draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning but failed to sign his entry-level contract by this week’s deadline, making him an unrestricted free agent. Because of his age, he’ll be limited to a two-year deal.
Serving as captain of the University of Denver, he led the Pioneers to a national championship earlier this year and was tied for second in team scoring with Edmonton Oilers prospect Carter Savoie (behind Bobby Brink of the Philadelphia Flyers). His 19 goals and 45 points were easily career highest, though the 2017 sixth-round pick has put up strong totals throughout his four years in college.
Relatively undersized, Guttman is the kind of no-risk lottery ticket that the Blackhawks can afford to take a chance on as they rebuild. If he’s unable to deliver NHL minutes there’s nothing wrong with him adding some skill to the Rockford IceHogs.
If he can get to the highest level, however, it becomes another young forward for general manager Kyle Davidson to build around, or even potentially a trade chip to sell over the next few years. As we’ve seen so far this offseason, 23-year-old players are not safe from the rebuild machine in Chicago, as they set their sights further down the road.
For Guttman specifically, there’s probably no better place in the league to try and land regular NHL minutes. Signing with Chicago will give him an open path to playing time if he can show he deserves it, allowing his professional career to start on the right foot.
I wonder if the ‘Hawks really care how long the rebuild takes. On a side note, a big Thanks to you, @Gavin, and everyone else who has helped boot the scammers off of this forum. Excellent work!
Trying my best. Thank you to everyone who is reporting them, I can’t keep an eye on every comment section at the same time, so those notifications help the process. We’re working on a way to keep them at bay in the first place, but every once in a while they slip through the cracks.
I concur on that. I’ve been zapping every one I notice so as to help clear them out.
@Palehosed85 – Normally, I’d recommend every member chiming in, but that would overload @Gavin & Co. The scammers’ email domains or IP addresses are going to have to be tracked and put in a blacklist. The stupid thing is, there isn’t much benefit to attacking hockey fans on the best forum on the web. We just get really pissed at them, and we may find other means to track them down and make their lives more difficult.
They are trying to win the AHL championship . . . no, seriously — they believe that their prospects will benefit from playoffs and the experience being on a winner, and Guttman is just the latest pickup (along with David Gust, Garrett MItchell, and Dylan Sikura.
I’m pretty sure they do care how long the rebuild takes . . . they care mostly about being horrible this year to see if that lands them Bedard, but I really don’t see how this signing suggests a forever rebuild.
@Ted 2 – When Papa Bill was in charge, he didn’t really give a rat’s @ss about the fan base, and that caused damage that lasted for years. Times are different now, and things *could* end up even worse, potentially. I hope they’ll figure out who the broadcast teams are going to be and not play musical chairs with them. Right now, it has all the makings of a pottery class going bad and everyone ending up with ashtrays better suited for skeet shooting.
Testing
Blackhawks all in on Conner Berard if they are as bad as they look on paper and win the draft.
Chat here……
Hawkstalk.net