Free Agent Focus: Chicago Blackhawks
It’s going to be another painful summer in Chicago, but this time, there’s no Stanley Cup to soothe fans. On Tuesday, the Blackhawks traded promising young forward Teuvo Teravainen to Carolina to dump the salary of Bryan Bickell.
It was a mixed-bag of a season in the Windy City. The team’s Championship defence started out with star forward Patrick Kane under investigation for allegedly raping a woman at his New York home. The charges were later dropped. Kane teamed up with rookie Artemi Panarin to score a career-high 106 points and win the Art Ross Trophy. Panarin, in his first NHL season after six years in the KHL, finished in the top 10 scorers in the league. The Blackhawks finished third in the tightly-contested Central Division and lost to rival St. Louis Blues in 7 games.
Projected Cap Space: $8.4MM, 16 players under contract.
Key Restricted Free Agents: Andrew Shaw – the pesky forward scored 34 points this season, the second highest total of his career. He’s coming off a controversial playoffs where he was suspended for using a homophobic slur towards a referee after making an inappropriate hand gesture. Shaw has been a favourite of coach Joel Quenneville, but was doubtful to return before Tuesday’s trade. Chicago Sun-Times writer Mark Lazerus reported that the Blackhawks fully expect to be able to re-sign Shaw. Expect the deal to be for 3 or more years north of $3MM per.
Other RFAs: Dennis Rasmussen
Key Unrestricted Free Agents: Andrew Ladd, Dale Weise – the pair of wingers were acquired at the trade deadline as the Blackhawks loaded up for a Cup run. Both players are expected to test the open market as Chicago doesn’t have cap space to sign either at close to their market-value.
Other UFAs: Christian Ehrhoff, Tomas Fleischmann, Michael Leighton, Brandon Mashinter, Michal Rosival.
Outlook: The Blackhawks need at least 5 forwards, a couple defensemen, and a third string goalie. Don’t expect any of those players to have a salary above $1MM.
With $48.78MM invested in their 7-player core of Jonathon Toews, Kane, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Corey Crawford, money is going to be tight to re-sign Shaw, round out their roster, and prepare for Panarin’s new contract next season.
With regards to the expected expansion draft next summer, the Blackhawks do not have much to worry about, as they will be able to protect all their important pieces. Chicago does not have a first round pick in the upcoming draft.
NHL Award Predictions: Calder Trophy
The 2016 NHL Awards will take place on Wednesday, June 22nd in Las Vegas. Between now and then, we will be making our predictions on who will take home the hardware.
First up for a closer look is the Calder Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top rookie. The finalists are:
D Shayne Gostisbehere , Philadelphia Flyers – It’s rare that a player who starts the season in the American Hockey League becomes a finalist for a major award but Gostisbehere’s impact upon being recalled was just too much to ignore. Despite missing 18 games while playing for the Flyers’ AHL affiliate in Adirondack, the 23 year old led all NHL defensemen in goals (17), assists (29), points (46), and power play points (22). He also set NHL records for most overtime goals by a rookie (4) and for the longest point streak by a rookie blueliner (15 games).
C Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers – The top pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft lived up to his draft status in 2015-16 as he quickly took over as Edmonton’s top centre. Unfortunately for him and the Oilers, he missed 37 games due to a fractured left clavicle. Despite that, the 19 year old still posted 16 goals and 32 assists in 45 games, good for third in team scoring. McDavid also led all rookies with a points-per-game average of 1.07; he was the only first year player to average higher than one point per contest.
LW Artemi Panarin, Chicago Blackhawks – Signed as an undrafted free agent last offseason, Panarin made an immediate and significant impact for the Hawks. The 24 year old led all rookies offensively with goals (30), assists (47), points (77), power play points (24), and game winning goals (7). His point total was good enough for a tie for ninth overall amongst all NHL players and second best on Chicago, only behind the NHL’s top point getter, Patrick Kane. Kane, coincidentally, is the last Blackhawk to win the Calder Trophy.
Prediction: This is one the best rookie classes in a long time. All three finalists made more than a typical rookie impact and were among the NHL’s best in certain categories. Had McDavid been healthy all year, he would have had a strong chance but it would be hard to give him the nod since he missed 45% of the season due to injury. Gostisbehere was huge for the Flyers but he also missed considerable time early on so at the end of the day my pick to win the award is Panarin. I think the writers who vote on this award will have too hard of a time looking past a rookie finishing in the top ten in scoring league wide on one of the NHL’s top teams in the regular season.