Summer Synopsis: Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks haven’t had much success in recent years but they do appear poised to turn the corner very soon. Whether that turn happens next season or not remains to be seen, but the Blackhawks certainly seem ready to move their rebuild into the next phase adding plenty of veterans to create a mix with their younger players. Chicago is unlikely to be a playoff team next season, but given the veterans they’ve added and young phenom Connor Bedard ready to take the next step, it isn’t impossible to imagine them in the playoff picture come spring 2025.

Draft

1-2: D Artyom Levshunov, Michigan State (NCAA)
1-18: F Sacha Boisvert,  Muskegon (USHL)
1-27: F Marek Vanacker, Brantford (OHL)
3-67: F John Mustard, Waterloo (USHL)
3-72: F AJ Spellacy, Windsor (OHL)
3-92: F Jack Pridham, West Kelowna (BCHL)
5-138: F Joel Svensson, Vaxjo HC (J20 Nationell)
6-163: D Ty Henry, Erie (OHL)

The Blackhawks once again had a top pick in 2024 and used it to select Michigan State defenseman Levshunov. The 18-year-old from Belarus is a mobile defenseman who can make offense happen in a number of different ways boasting an excellent shot as well as lethal passing and explosiveness to his game that allows him to create open ice for himself out of nothing. He’s not just an offensive defenseman as his size and maneuverability allow him to play a steady defensive game.

The Blackhawks’ second pick in the first round was a goal scorer in Boisvert. The Trois-Rivières, Quebec native is a threat to score from all over the ice with his big one-timer and a solid wrist shot that is difficult for goaltenders to pick up. He can also score in tight, boasting a very good net-front presence and the ability to finish under pressure. The knock on Boisvert is his skating, which is very much a work in progress.

With their third and final first-round pick the Blackhawks drafted Brantford forward Vanacker out of the OHL. The Delhi, Ontario native has been called a cerebral player because of his ability to time his drives into open space and his knack for identifying soft coverage. He is a solid back checker and can create odd-man opportunities in transition. Vanacker has a solid offensive game, a good shot and a strong powerful skating stride that can open up space and also allow him to drive to the net with speed.

Outside of the first round, Chicago added five additional prospects to the pipeline with the most notable being John Mustard who notched 29 goals and 27 assists in 60 USHL games last season. Mustard’s 29 goals led all USHL rookies and helped him earn USHL Rookie of the Year honors.

Trade Acquisitions

F Ilya Mikheyev (Vancouver)

Chicago scooped up Canucks cast off Mikheyev in a salary cap dump alongside a second-round pick and the signing rights to Sam Lafferty. Although Chicago never re-signed Lafferty, the real centerpiece of the deal was the second-round pick. But now Chicago has a player in Mikheyev who will be looking to re-capture his scoring touch after a difficult season in Vancouver that saw him post just 11 goals and 20 assists in 78 regular season games. The Canucks retained 15% of Mikheyev’s cap hit which means the Blackhawks are on the hook for just over $4MM annually for the next two seasons.

Mikheyev’s fall from grace took just two short years in Vancouver after he was billed as a marquee signing back in 2022. Vancouver hoped they were paying a player who was only scratching the surface, but in retrospect, Vancouver overpaid a player who hadn’t yet established himself as a scoring winger and gave him scoring winger money. Ultimately, the free agent signing backfired, and Vancouver was forced to staple an asset to  Mikheyev in order to move on from his contract.

For Chicago, they get a player who can provide them with some depth scoring if he stays healthy. The versatile 29-year-old can play a two-way game which should allow Chicago to play him up and down their lineup as they try to mix in all the new pieces they’ve acquired this summer. Mikheyev has enough skill to play in Chicago’s top six, but if he is not a fit his game would allow him to be a complimentary piece on one of the team’s bottom two lines.

UFA Signings

F Joey Anderson (two-year, $1.6MM)
F Tyler Bertuzzi (four-year, $22MM)
D T.J. Brodie (two-year, $7.5MM)
G Laurent Brossoit (two-year, $6.6MM)
F Pat Maroon (one-year, $1.3MM)
D Alec Martinez (one-year, $4MM)
F Craig Smith (one-year, $1MM)
F Teuvo Teravainen (three-year, $16.2MM)

* denotes a two-way contract

Chicago was busy on July 1st, signing a plethora of players in an effort to insulate some of their up-and-coming prospects. The Blackhawks were aggressive up front, signing Bertuzzi and Teravainen to presumably play in their top six (possibly next to Bedard) and also signed veteran depth forwards Maroon and Smith.

Bertuzzi wasn’t great in Toronto last season, but he wasn’t bad either. The 29-year-old never really seemed to settle in with Toronto and appeared in search of a role until later in the season. Bertuzzi remained a play driver in Toronto but slumped at various times and was snake-bitten for small parts of the year. In Chicago, it is expected that he will take a top-six spot and will be relied on to continue going to the net to be a disrupter for the Blackhawks and hopefully find a way to gel more effectively with their skilled players than he did in Toronto.

Chicago’s other big forward signing was Teravainen who comes over from the Hurricanes. The 29-year-old had to settle for a three-year deal but could be a bargain for Chicago if he can return to the 50–60-point player that he has been in five of the past seven seasons. Teravainen is ideally suited for the middle six but might have to play top-line minutes in Chicago next season. He isn’t a particularly strong or tough player to play against, but he is an excellent passer who has good offensive instincts and should help drive Chicago’s possession numbers when he is on the ice.

On the back end, Chicago signed a couple of veteran defensemen in Brodie and Martinez. Brodie lost his way towards the end of his stay in Toronto as he went from being an excellent defender who could move the puck out of the defensive zone to a turnover machine in very short order. Brodie’s two-year deal is low risk for Chicago, particularly if he is used on the bottom pair, but if his play resembles that of last season and if his skating isn’t there, his signing might be one that Chicago regrets.

At 37, it’s hard to say how much longer Alec Martinez can continue to block shots the way he does. But his veteran presence and penalty killing will be welcomed in Chicago, particularly for a young defenseman like Kevin Korchinski who could learn a lot from a grizzled veteran like Martinez. The three-time Stanley Cup champion will likely be a third-paring defenseman for Chicago (alongside Brodie) and asking any more of him at this late stage of his career could be problematic.

RFA Re-Signings

D Louis Crevier (one-year, $775K)*
C Cole Guttman (one-year, $775K)*
D Isaak Phillips (one-year, $775K)*
F Lukas Reichel (two-year, $2.4MM)
F Zach Sanford (one-year, $775K)*
F Brett Seney (one-year, $775K)*

* denotes a two-way contract

Chicago had a relatively quiet summer on the RFA market thus far, signing mostly depth pieces to two-way contracts while only signing Lukas Reichel to a one-way contract. Reichel looked like a gamer during an extended NHL stay in 2022-23 potting seven goals and eight assists in 23 games while showing off his speed and playmaking ability. But last season his game came crashing down to earth as he struggled during his first full NHL season. The 22-year-old tallied just five goals and 11 assists in 65 games and was crushed in the possession department registering a CF% of just 40.9% at even strength. He will get another look next season but will need to show the Blackhawks a lot more than he did this past year.

Guttman could get a look next season in the NHL if injuries become a problem for Chicago, but he is unlikely to start the year with the team. The undersized forward has had a cup of coffee in the NHL the past two seasons, dressing in 41 games and posting eight goals and six assists, but hasn’t been able to establish himself as an everyday NHLer. At 25 years of age, Guttman could still carve out a role in Chicago, but at this stage, it would likely fall in the Blackhawks bottom six and could be as a 13th forward.

Departures

C Colin Blackwell (Dallas, one-year, $775K)
F MacKenzie Entwistle (Florida, one-year, $775K)*
F David Gust (unsigned UFA)
F Mike Hardman (New Jersey, two-year, $1.55MM)*
F Reese Johnson (Minnesota, one-year, $775K)*
C Tyler Johnson (unsigned UFA)
F Sam Lafferty (Buffalo, two-year, $4MM)
D Jaycob Megna (Florida, one-year, $775K)*
C Luke Philp (Washington, one-year, $775K)*
F Rem Pitlick (unsigned UFA)
F Taylor Raddysh (Washington, one year, $1MM)
D Filip Roos (Ottawa, one-year, $775K)*
G Jaxson Stauber (Utah, one-year, $775K)*
F Michal Teply (signed in Czech Extraliga)
D Jarred Tinordi (unsigned UFA)
D Nikita Zaitsev (signed in KHL)

* denotes a two-way contract

Chicago’s departures aren’t likely to keep management up at night as the team let a lot of depth players walk to open up roster slots for more effective players. Chicago was able to clear several bloated contracts with the departures of Zaitsev and Tyler Johnson and quickly used that money to add veteran pieces in free agency.

Johnson was probably the most effective of the departing players, posting 17 goals and 14 assists last season in 67 games. But at 34 years old Chicago opted to move on from the two-time Stanley Cup winner. Chicago doesn’t have great depth down the middle outside of Bedard, but despite this Chicago still opted to pass on re-signing Johnson.

On Chicago’s backend, Zaitsev’s departure won’t cause anyone in Chicago to lose sleep as he was largely a non-factor during his stay in the Windy City. Tinordi was another departure for the Blackhawks and despite his physicality, Chicago made an upgrade on the free-agent market by replacing him with the likes of Brodie and Martinez.

Salary Cap Outlook

The Blackhawks will enter training camp with just under $6.7MM in available cap space which should give them plenty of options depending on the direction their season takes. If the Blackhawks have a strong start to the season, they could look to add to their NHL roster and would have both the assets and salary cap space to do so. If their season falls off the rails and they become sellers, they could take on bad contracts from teams that are looking to make in-season moves. Long term, Chicago has a ton of cap space going forward, but that room will begin to shrink as their young prospects develop and come off their entry-level contracts looking for their first big payday in the NHL.

Key Questions

How Much Will Bedard Elevate His Game? Bedard had a solid rookie season, posting 22 goals and 39 assists on a very bad team. While he didn’t have a lot of help last season, he did manage to almost score a point a game and should be a lock to do so next season when he has a much better-supporting cast. But just how much better will Bedard be on his own? Bedard has been labelled a phenom and compared to both Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid, two players who elevated their games after their rookie season.  Crosby had 102 points as a rookie before registering 120 points in his Hart Trophy-winning second season, while McDavid had 48 points in 45 games as a rookie but dialled it up considerably in his second year tallying 100 points in 82 games. If Bedard’s career follows the same trajectory as the men he has been compared to, it’s not inconceivable to think he could hit 100 points next season.

When Should The Team Name Bedard The Captain? We all know that it’s just a matter of time before the Blackhawks name Bedard as team captain. Crosby was named captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins after his second NHL season, and both he and McDavid were just 19 years old when they were given the C by their respective teams. Time will tell when Chicago chooses to anoint Bedard as their next captain, but if it happens this season, he will have plenty of veteran support to help him lead the team.

Just How Much Better Will Chicago Be Next Season?  Chicago struggled badly with injuries last season to the point where they were calling the staff of PHR to suit up for the team. Okay, maybe things weren’t quite that bad, but the Blackhawks had to dig deep into the ranks of Rockford to ice an NHL team as they lost a league-high 351-man games to injury. A healthy lineup alone should guarantee Chicago a few extra points in the standings, but their roster has also improved significantly. Last season Chicago had the worst offense in the league, Bertuzzi and Teravainen should help in that regard. Chicago also finished 29th in goals against and should be aided by the defensive additions of Martinez and Brodie, as well as Brossoit in the net who should help to stabilize things between the pipes.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.