- Mike Hardman, who suffered a head laceration in Tuesday’s Chicago Blackhawks game when taking a hit from Matt Martin, is also now in the concussion protocol. He won’t play tonight for the Blackhawks when the team takes on the Vancouver Canucks.
Blackhawks Rumors
Jeremy Colliton On Hot Seat After Bad Start
- After three games and three losses, the Chicago Blackhawks find themselves in trouble to start the season and already there have been calls to change the coaching staff. Mark Lazerus of The Athletic examines the bad start and notes that head coach Jeremy Colliton’s seat is getting hot, while Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports writes about how the “urgency is building” despite it being so early in the season. The Blackhawks have allowed 13 goals in their first three games, tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for the most in the NHL so far.
Chicago Blackhawks Trying To Trade Andrew Shaw’s Contract
The Chicago Blackhawks are currently over the salary cap, using the relief pool created from placing Caleb Jones and Andrew Shaw on long-term injured reserve this week. That may not last for long though, as Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports that the team is “actively” trying to trade Shaw’s contract. The veteran forward is not expected to play again.
By moving it, as PuckPedia explains on Twitter, the team could get under the cap once Jones is healthy enough to return and start accruing cap space for a potential move later in the season. That was the risk of acquiring high-priced talent like Seth Jones, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Tyler Johnson in the offseason, the team is not currently set up to make a big splash partway through the year if they feel this group is good enough to go on a playoff run (first-game performance notwithstanding).
Seravalli tweets that the Shaw contract, which had a $1MM signing bonus and $1.9MM salary this season, is insured, meaning it likely wouldn’t cost an acquiring team much in actual dollars. A team that is already in LTIR could add it without much trouble, or a team that is nowhere near the ceiling could accept it without putting them in a difficult situation.
The Blackhawks of course will have to use an asset to rid themselves of Shaw’s deal, as other teams have done in the past, but it shouldn’t be too expensive. It very well could even become something of a reverse bidding war, with rebuilding teams offering their services for less and less of a return, just to secure something. Regardless, the Blackhawks obviously don’t want to sit in LTIR relief for the entire season as so many of the other teams around the league are currently doing.
That could have been guessed from the way they already jettisoned Brent Seabrook’s deal, though that contract stretched beyond this season and would have had ramifications down the road. Seabrook was sent to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the offseason–who some would say are the kings of operating in long-term injured reserve–but by taking Johnson’s contract back the Blackhawks actually ended up acquiring a second-round pick in the deal.
Mikko Lehtonen Suspended; One Of Four Players On Waivers
Oct 13: MacEwen was claimed by the Philadelphia Flyers, but the other three have cleared.
Oct 12: The Columbus Blue Jackets have suspended Mikko Lehtonen for failing to report to the AHL after he was assigned to the Cleveland Monsters this week. The team has also placed him on unconditional waivers and will terminate his contract. Lehtonen isn’t alone though, as the Chicago Blackhawks have also placed Matej Chalupa on unconditional waivers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Zack MacEwen of the Vancouver Canucks and C.J. Suess of the Winnipeg Jets are also on regular waivers.
Lehtonen, 27, was expected to make a big impact at the NHL level after putting up strong numbers in the KHL, even winning that league’s Defenseman of the Year award in 2020. Instead, he struggled to crack the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup on a regular basis and then was sent to Columbus, where he signed a new one-year, $900K deal this offseason but still failed to make the team out of camp. Instead of going to the AHL, he’ll likely head back overseas where he can once again star as a top-four puck-mover. His NHL career could very well end with just 26 games and six points.
Chalupa meanwhile is just 23, but apparently isn’t going to spend another year in the minors trying to establish himself as a call-up option for Chicago. He played 27 games for the Rockford IceHogs last season and scored seven points, but he too is likely headed back overseas. Both contracts will come entirely off the books for the Blue Jackets and Blackhawks.
MacEwen, 25, will lose his spot to Alex Chiasson, who the Canucks signed today to a one-year deal. The depth forward has actually played in 55 games for the Canucks over the last three seasons, but isn’t much of an offensive contributor at the NHL level and is unlikely to be claimed.
The same can be said about Suess, who has just one NHL game under his belt and is likely headed to the Manitoba Moose. Suess has been dealing with an undisclosed injury throughout training camp and won’t even be the first call-up option for the Jets this season.
Snapshots: Strome, Ekholm, Giroux
The inevitable departure of Sabres star Jack Eichel? The sudden availability of young Ranger Vitali Kravtsov? A victim of one of a number of unresolved roster crunches? Any of these situations could provide the first trade of the 2021-22 season, but at least one insider believes the first deal of the year could come elsewhere. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the Chicago Blackhawks are quietly shopping center Dylan Strome as they look to manage their surplus at center. With Jonathan Toews healthy and back in the lineup, the off-season acquisition of Tyler Johnson, and the presence down the middle of top prospect Kirby Dach as well as fellow youngsters Henrik Borgstrom and Mackenzie Entwistle, the Blackhawks suddenly find themselves with centers to spare and LeBrun notes that Strome appears to be the odd man out. At just 24 years old and still clinging to the draft pedigree of being the No. 3 overall pick in 2015, Strome has shown flashes of NHL greatness, but not enough consistency to establish himself as a concrete top-six player. Strome is on an expiring contract and will be a restricted free agent this summer and it looks as if his next contract will not be in Chicago. Interested teams have incentive to add Strome sooner rather than later to get a full-season look prior to negotiating that next deal, while LeBrun notes that the Blackhawks also want to make a move as soon as possible. The result could be a trade in a matter of days rather than weeks. The real question is whether Chicago will land a return commensurate with the Strome who recorded 51 points in 58 games in 2019-20 or if instead the lucky buyer can buy low on the skilled pivot given his 17 points in 40 games last year.
- Who might be the first major impending UFA to sign a long-term extension this season? The Nashville Predators sure hope that the answer will be Mattias Ekholm. The Predators spurned trade offers for Ekholm last season and doubled down on their loyalty and reliance on the two-way defender when they moved Ryan Ellis this off-season, yet Ekholm is still playing on an expiring contract. Ekholm’s camp has stated that they will not negotiate a new deal during the season, so the clock is ticking for GM David Poile and company to come to terms on a critical contract. Fortunately for the Predators, LeBrun reports that both sides have been working hard over the past few days to hammer out the details of an extension. With Nashville beginning their season on Thursday, Ekholm will either re-sign in the next 48 hours or possibly not at all. It will be a long season for the Predators if the future of the top defender is in doubt all year.
- Claude Giroux is in a similar situation with the Philadelphia Flyers as a career member of the franchise playing on an expiring deal. However, no contract is imminent for the Philly captain. LeBrun states that both sides have come to a mutual agreement to wait on extension talks until after the season, quite possibly setting up a separation between the veteran and his squad. It is hard to argue that Giroux is not still a star even at 33; he has scored at just about a point-per-game clip over the past four years and has only missed two games in that span as well. Yet, the Flyers could see his salary cap space as better used on younger assets as they continue to remake their roster. How both Giroux and Philadelphia perform this season will dictate their relationship moving forward.
Erik Gustafsson Signs With Chicago Blackhawks
Oct 11: The Blackhawks have made it official, signing Gustafsson to a one-year, $800K deal.
Oct 10: Defenseman Erik Gustafsson was released from his professional tryout by the New York Islanders and is expected to sign with the Chicago Blackhawks, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports Gustafsson signed a one-year deal worth $800K.
Chicago brings Gustafsson into the fold after a slew of recent injuries on the blueline, including Wyatt Kalynuk and Caleb Jones. The team was down to just six defensemen with any notable NHL experience on the active roster, having already assigned Nicolas Beaudin to Rockford in the AHL.
Gustafsson is mostly a power-play specialist with weak defensive analytics, but is still valuable in a reduced even-strength context. He has 250 games of NHL experience, 214 of which came previously with the Blackhawks.
He likely starts the season as the team’s seventh defenseman as he works himself back into the fold, but could eventually reacclimate himself in the team’s top-four group where he’s done extremely well in the past. 2018-19 saw Gustafsson have a massive career year, scoring 14 goals and 60 points in just 79 games. He’s seen his ice time dwindle considerably since that point, but he could very well approach 18, 19, possibly even 20 minutes a game again with Chicago this year if he can rediscover his previous production.
Gustafsson is best suited to play with one of Chicago’s more defensively responsible defenders, a list that includes Jake McCabe, Calvin de Haan, and Connor Murphy. Gustafsson has experience playing both the left and right side, making him a versatile asset when creating lineups.
Alexander Nylander Appears To Be A Strong Waiver Candidate
- Alexander Nylander’s stock has certainly fallen since the 23-year-old was selected eighth overall by Buffalo back in 2016 but it could be dipping even more as Scott Powers of The Athletic suggests (subscription link) that Nylander is a likely candidate to be waived by the Blackhawks after a disappointing training camp. Powers suggests that Arizona is a team that could have interest in Nylander, who missed all of last season due to knee surgery after recording 10 goals and 16 assists in 65 games in 2019-20.
Caleb Jones Out Six Weeks With Wrist Injury
The Chicago Blackhawks have announced another serious injury to a depth defenseman, this time ruling Caleb Jones out for six weeks with a wrist injury. He joins Wyatt Kalynuk on the sideline, taking out two options for the team to start the year.
Jones, 24, was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers as part of the package that sent Duncan Keith north, and was immediately seen as a precursor to Chicago’s eventual trade for his brother Seth Jones. The two were united with the Blackhawks (though their compensation is a touch different) and set to start the season together for the first time in their NHL careers.
It wasn’t exactly clear what Caleb Jones’ role would be with the team, but given Kalynuk’s injury, there were plenty of minutes to go around on the bottom pair. Ian Mitchell may be the beneficiary of these injuries as a spot has opened for him on the NHL roster, though newcomer Jakub Galvas could also potentially slot in on his off-side. Regardless of how they work it out, losing two legitimate NHL options so early puts a lot of pressure on the depth chart immediately.
Not to be forgotten though is the cap situation, which is actually positively affected by this injury. Jones was unlikely to be sent to the minor leagues, meaning the team has a little more added flexibility in terms of who to place on LTIR and when to do it. The Blackhawks will be dancing a delicate routine this season after acquiring big-ticket players like Seth Jones, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Tyler Johnson this summer.
Brett Connolly Assigned To AHL
The Chicago Blackhawks have opened up a bit of cap space by assigning veteran forward Brett Connolly to the AHL today according to Mark Lazerus of The Athletic. The move comes after Connolly cleared waivers earlier today and will mean $1.125MM ($375K + the league minimum of $750K) of his $3.5MM cap hit will come off the books.
That still means the Blackhawks now have a cap penalty of $2.375MM for a player not even on their roster, obviously not an ideal situation for a team pushing the upper limit. Chicago has some flexibility thanks to Andrew Shaw’s LTIR status, but that means they will not accrue additional cap space through the season for a potential deadline acquisition.
For Connolly, it’s hard to imagine how quickly things have declined. In 2018 he was a Stanley Cup champion with the Washington Capitals, playing a key role for the team and scoring six goals in the postseason. The next season he would score a career-high 22 goals with the Capitals, setting him up for a nice payday in free agency. It came from the Florida Panthers, who gave him $14MM over four years on July 1, 2019. With that in hand, he got off to a nice start in Sunrise, scoring 19 goals and 33 points in 69 games before the season was shut down.
This year though was a completely different story. Connolly had just two goals and four points in 21 games with the Panthers before a deadline deal took him to Chicago. The Blackhawks took on his entire salary while also getting Riley Stillman and Henrik Borgstrom in the deal, but Connolly couldn’t find his way down the stretch. He scored one goal and two points in ten games for Chicago, and now finds himself assigned to the AHL.
Connolly is still only 29, but with another year on his deal after this one, it will be hard to trade him without sweetening the pot for a rebuilding team. Teams like the Ottawa Senators or Buffalo Sabres who are flirting with the cap floor (pending a Jack Eichel trade for the latter) seem like ideal fits, but it’s not clear at all if they are interested at this point.
Wyatt Kalynuk Out A Few Weeks With Ankle Injury
One of the more interesting things to watch at the start of the 2021-22 season will be the Chicago Blackhawks’ overhauled defensive group. Seth Jones and Jake McCabe are two new members of the team’s top-four, while it looked like youngsters Riley Stillman and Wyatt Kalynuk could be in the opening night lineup as the third pair. That won’t be true anymore, as Kalynuk is likely out a few weeks with an ankle injury according to head coach Jeremy Colliton, who spoke with reporters including Scott Powers of The Athletic today.
As Mark Lazerus of The Athletic points out, Kalynuk was expected to play his off-side to start the year, meaning there is now an opening on the right for one of the team’s other young defensemen. Ian Mitchell or Alec Regula seem the most likely candidates, though given both are waiver-exempt it could end up being a rotation of some sort. That is unless one of the other left-handed options–Calvin de Haan, Caleb Jones, or Stillman–move to the right side to start.
Either way, this is a disappointing start for Kalynuk, who showed last season that he’s far from the player that fell to the seventh round in 2017. After three seasons at the University of Wisconsin, the 24-year-old was a legitimate NHL defenseman in his rookie season, recording nine points in 21 games and strong possession statistics. Entering the second year of his entry-level contract, there was a good chance he will be a regular for the team when healthy. Of course, missing the start of the year is never ideal, and Kalynuk will now have to not only work to return from injury, but also overtake whoever gets the minutes in his place.
The Blackhawks kick off their regular season schedule on October 13 when they take on the Colorado Avalanche.