Chicago Blackhawks forward Philipp Kurashev‘s arbitration decision has been made, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The 23-year-old will receive a two-year, $2.25MM contract. The Blackhawks had filed for a one-year, $1.4MM contract, while Kurashev had filed for a two-year, $2.65MM pact.
Since this was a player-elected arbitration case, the Blackhawks had the right to choose the term of the contract upon hearing what AAV Kurashev was awarded, meaning the two-year duration of the deal was of their choosing.
Seeing as this award lines a decent bit closer to Kurashev’s value rather than the Blackhawks, it appears the arbitrator’s thought process fell more in line with Kurashev and his representatives at CAA than with Chicago. In our more in-depth breakdown of Kurashev’s arbitration situation, we outlined how Kurashev was a more challenging player to value than most others in the NHL.
Kurashev’s versatility and ability to play just about anywhere in the lineup is certainly valuable, but despite playing significant minutes last season Kurashev simply did not post the numbers one would hope such a heavily-used player would have. He scored nine goals and 25 points in 70 games, only a slight increase from the six goals and 21 points he scored last season.
We pointed to Dillon Dube‘s $2.3MM AAV contract extension from the Calgary Flames from 2021 as a comparable to Kurashev’s situation, and ultimately Kurashev’s award comes just about at that number.
The deal won’t mean much for Chicago in terms of adding difficulty to their salary cap management process, as they still boast quite a bit of room under the NHL’s upper salary limit, and will likely be in the same position next year.
What this decision offers Kurashev is a significant pay raise from the $750k he made in the NHL last season, and it gives the player a two-year runway to continue to develop his game in the NHL and prove he belongs in Chicago long-term as they build towards their Connor Bedard-led era of contention.
You’ll see how happy Davidson is with this deal by how fast he deals Kurashev. I’m thinking it will be fast, Salary Cap notwithstanding.
If he’s not happy with it, why did he decide to make it a two year deal?
I would assume because it would make him easier to trade. The trade team not having to go through arbitration with him again for next year. Besides with Bedard, Reichel, Dach and Saarela likely to be better players and cheaper, Why keep him now? His best quality is being mediocre at a lot of positions. Even the article said so. Now he’s mediocre and expensive.
He didn’t make a two year deal. Kurashev filed for two years 2.65M. The Hawks filled for one year at 1.4M.
Its not a horrible deal. I’m sure KD wanted to keep the contract lower because the higher the AAV is when he’s set to be a UFA the more he’s going to way. So in two years he’s going to want at least 3M per depending on how he plays. Even still, 3-5M isn’t bad for depth scoring if he can live up to it. This is gonna be a prove it contract to show what he’s going to be going forward and if he’s going to fit the Hawks long term plan.
I can’t see him making the opening day roster. And I don’t see Davidson paying him 2 million bucks to play in Rockford. Just my opinion.