Blackhawks Futures: Contracts Signed And Money Needed
A couple times in March, before the postseason began, we looked ahead to the Blackhawks needs and obligations for the 2017-18 season. There have been a few changes – most significantly a first round exit from the playoffs – so let’s revisit the subject.
Tanner Kero signed a two-year extension in March that keeps him at a $750,000 cap hit through the 2018-19 season. Chicago also re-signed veterans Michal Rozsival ($650k) and Jordin Tootoo ($700k) to one-year deals for next season, giving the Hawks a couple options for the expansion draft.
Speaking of Vegas, ESPN published a mock expansion draft from their senior hockey writers in mid-March (before firing almost all of their hockey staff). Pierre LeBrun, Craig Custance and Joe McDonald all predicted Vegas will take Marcus Kruger; Scott Burnside thinks Vegas will select Trevor van Riemsdyk.
Among the Blackhawks’ veterans, Brian Campbell, Johnny Oduya and Andrew Desjardins are still headed toward unrestricted free agency.
Scott Darling is not; the Blackhawks traded him to Carolina for a third round pick. Darling subsequently signed a four-year, $16.6M deal with the Canes, and we wish him the absolute best in Carolina.
The list of unrestricted free agents beyond the Chicago roster remains the same: Mac Carruth, Martin Lundberg, Brandon Mashinter, Lars Johansson and Pierre-Cedric Labrie.
The following players are still headed to becoming restricted free agents in the Blackhawks’ system:
NHL Roster
Richard Panik
Tomas Jurco
Dennis Rasmussen
Michal Kempny
Minors
Ville Pokka
Erik Gustafsson
Michael Latta
Dillon Fournier
Kenton Helgesen
Those are players who will need a decision to be made soon. Chicago also retains the rights to one remaining college senior, Boston College’s Chris Calnan.
The following players have a contracts in place (with previous league and 2017-18 cap hit)
Forwards
David Kampf – Czech – $925,000
Nathan Noel – Jr – $775,833
John Hayden – NHL – $925,000
Tyler Motte – AHL – $925,000
Vinnie Hinostroza – AHL – $717,500
Kyle Baun – AHL – $625,000
Luke Johnson – AHL – $717,500
Alex DeBrincat – Jr – $809,167
Alexandre Fortin – Jr – $685,000
Matthew Highmore – Jr – $775,833
Graham Knott – Jr – $717,500
Anthony Louis – NCAA – $775,000
Matheson Iacopelli – NCAA – $742,500
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – AHL – $872,500
Carl Dahlstrom – AHL – $750,833
Viktor Svedberg – AHL – $750,000
Robin Norell – AHL – $717,500
Luc Snuggerud – NCAA – $767,500
Goaltender
Jeff Glass – AHL – $612,500
The Blackhawks own 10 picks in the 2017 NHL Draft as well. They own the following picks:
Round One – Chicago
Round Two – Chicago
Round Three – Ottawa (via Carolina for Darling)
Round Four – Chicago
Round Five – Chicago, Carolina (from Versteeg trade), St. Louis (from 2016 draft trade)
Round Six – Chicago, NY Islanders (from 2016 draft trade)
Round Seven – Anaheim (from Tim Jackman trade – 2016)
Hummmm….they have 8 picks….or 10 ? ?
Iff they have 10 ..then 2 are missing on the post ….
I count 10…
I count 10 picks, Hawks2010. They include Three in round five, and Two in round six. All of the other rounds have One each.
Picks are nice but this team really needs to move some salary to start climbing up the playoff mountain again.
Hawks2010 gets our reading comprehension trophy today!
Hawks have to much money tied up in a core group that’s aging and not worth their pay anymore. Make major deal to free up cap space!
Congrats to Hawks2010 on your trophy!
10 it is should package a couple and move up to 3rd or 2nd round
They should keep those lower round picks. They have gotten some decent players with those picks.
I cannot believe we’re having to have this discussion right now as they were picked by most NHL so called experts to make it to the finals this season! What a let down!
This is truly Stan Bowmans team & he dropped the ball along with his coaching staffs inability to get this team ready for the playoffs! Instead we’re stuck watching other teams play for the cup! Sorry to be so critical but as all of u we had very high hopes for this season. Have a great summer!
Has anyone heard whether or not we plan on trying DeBrincat on Madison next year? I’ve been following this kid in Erie and he is a stone cold scoring machine. Granted there isn’t as much skating room in the NHL, and the defensemen are faster and play a rougher game, but I have to think that two points a game in the OHL still translates to some scoring punch in the league. I see a lot of stories about him, but nobody has any idea whether or not we’re going to give him a shot in 2017-18.