Blackhawks Sign Isaak Phillips
On Wednesday morning the Blackhawks announced the club has agreed to terms with defenseman Isaak Phillips on a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal runs through the 2023-24 season and has a $859,167 salary cap hit.
Phillips, 19, is listed at 6-3 and 194 pounds. He’s a left-handed shot who has been playing with the Rockford IceHogs on a PTO. Chicago originally drafted Phillips in the fifth round (#141 overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft.
In 14 games with Rockford this season, Phillips has two goals and four assists.
Stan is on fire ….he wants to sign everybody.
A fifth round choice less then a year ago …wow that’s really fast .
Another big body in the mix, good to see. Elc starts next year so contract won’t count against this year’s 50, continue on his ato for now.
Phillips is a very athletic prospect who blossomed a bit late after a growth spurt. He has played all year in the AHL as a 19 year old and the Hawks obviously have been impressed. Very nice size if he makes it to the NHL.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have inside info as to why Stan signs players when he does? Signing Hardman when he did was obvious because he was a free agent who had other offers, but why sign Phillips now? Makes me think there’s more to this signing than simply locking up a 5th rounder with virtually no chance to even get a cup of coffee with the Hawks for the foreseeable future.
It’s really hard to play more then 7 Dmen in a game …maybe in the future the Hawks will reinvent the way to play hockey with 9 forward and 10 Dmen
I know it’s good to have many Dmen but after a while it’s getting in the head of the kids and some of them knows they are not part of the future with the Hawks. Beaudin,Regula, Kaiser , Vlasic ,Demin ,Krutil ,Kalikuk , Carlson .Moberg,Krys and à few other. And the Hawks need 2 to replace DeHann and Keith in the near future.
Then you need to trade a few of those kids but not easy to predict what will hapend .
Look what happened with Murphy who was a ordinary Dman when he arrive with the Hawks and many guys here want to trade him for a use jackStrap. Now he is the best Dman for the Hawks. It will be a difficult decision when they move a guy like Beaudin(still very young ) so we will see big mistakes probably. And of course so can’t keep them all. Let see how they make their future move in the next 12-18 months max
Beaudin will be gone to Montreal probably in the next year.
EB, Philips is eligible to return to juniors next year and slide his first contract year if he doesn’t play 10 nhl games. If covid messes up junior season again he can still slide in ahl. Could be rewarding him for showing enough to get an elc and still have 4 years after this season, before his elc expires. May be awhile before we actually see him in nhl games yet.
hawks 2010
referring to murphy as the hawks best defenseman is damning with faint praise. a very low bar to climb over. certainly he is a much better player than when he arrived, but my default…..could he have moved out any of the top four d-men of the cup winning seasons? don’t think so.
Ian, I’m less concerned about if/when Phillips matriculates to the NHL than him tying up one of the 50 contracts when it seems Stan didn’t have to sign him now.
Hawks 29 ..
Murphy is the best Dman on this team now in 21 .. I am not talking about 7-10 years ago or better then Pierre Pilote In the 60
Maybe you don’t really like him and would like to trade him ,probably 15 teams would love to have one of the best Dman at his peak .
Hawks knows the value and they won’t trade him before 2-3 years .
Hawks need this guy for the kids also but I am just a normal fan who knows just a bit about hockey so it’s just my 2 pesos
Tell me …who’s the best Dman on the team now ? ?
Ebony,
Ian explained the Phillips contract doesn’t count against the Hawks 50 for this year. He stays on his ATO for this season.
Murphy could have moved out Oduya from those Cup teams who made a great partner for Hammer but on his own wasn’t as good a D man as Murphy is now IMO
Keith Seabs
Hammer Murph
looks pretty good
hawks 2010
agree with everything you said. he is a solid player and the best of the hawks right now. any team could use him.
considering the likelihood of the hawks challenging for a cup in the next couple of years i would definitely float him on the trade market. stan should demand a king’s ranson and if another team wants to overpay so be it.
wrap.
i thought that as a possibility as well. would have been interesting seeing hjalmarsson play his career on his strong side.
Murphy was drafted 20 th overall in his draft year , he has won nothing .
Oduya …221 st overall ,2 Stanley Cup rings …please save your breath in trying to compare the 2 players ….Murphy looks pretty good on a team that lacks good defense men ,Oduya was outstanding on a team loaded with great defense men .
Hawks 2015 – putting aside the fact that draft position is completely irrelevant to how good a player is your opinion that Murphy would not have been as good as Oduya on those great Hawk teams is a valid one – I disagree but that’s just my opinion
However to dismiss my opinion and declare your opinion clearly the right one because Murphy has won no cups while Oduya has 2 is to be kind not a very good argument
Next you’ll be telling me that Ray Bourque is less of a D man than Johnny O because he only has only 1 Cup or that Marcus Kruger is better player than HOFer Marcel Dionne because he has 2 Cups and Dionne none – Dionne incidentally played on teams much like the current Hawks team
Or that Adam Burish is the equal of Bobby Hull because they both won 1 Cup or that Jan Ruutta is better than Murphy because Ruutta won a Cup last year
I could go on and on but I’ll save my breath
Hockey is perhaps the ultimate team game – to base your opinion of a player based on how many Cups they’ve won is to be kind again not a very good argument
Wrap
Good post
Love it
Ian: “Another big body in the mix, good to see.” Can we stop saying sub 200lb players are “big bodies”? The AVERAGE weight of an NHL player is 201lbs. Being tall, but skinny isn’t the combo I would like. Stan loves to draft sub 180lb guys. Unless they are super skilled that can skate the puck in, the dump and chase game won’t work with 180lb forwards trying to dig the puck out of the corners from +200lb defensemen. I think Colliton’s schemes have worked better this year, but I would like Stan to start drafting guys north of 200lbs. I don’t care if they make hits, I just want a bigger guy so they doesn’t get pushed off so easy. The Hawks obviously can’t find centers to win faceoffs, so having guys that can hold the puck when they do get it back would be nice.
GT most 18 year olds are under 200lbs when drafted because they haven’t filled out yet, most 18 year old hockey players weighing north of 200 lbs. would be considered overweight at that point of their development. Given time and patelience they will grow into their bodies and put on more weight you ask for.
Murphy looks pretty good on a team lacking in good defense men .
Oduya was great on a team loaded in that position .
Oduya was a number 4 slotted guy , save your breathe if you can get Hawks2010 p@c@er out of your mouth .
Ian,
Soderberg is the only forward with regular playing time listed over 201lbs.
Murphy & Zadorov are the only defensemen.
I agree that theoretically the draft picks would gain some weight, but if they are drafted for their speed and quickness, I doubt adding weight to possibly slow them down is their prescription.
Put ALL them backchecking forwards on this team from 2010-2013 and see how well Murphy looks.. put all these forwards today on that team back in 2010 and see how oduya looks then…lol.
dumb comparison.
Hawks 2015 – congrats you just completely humiliated yourself and marked yourself as irrelevant – bye