Blackhawks Sign Reese Johnson
On Wednesday morning the Chicago Blackhawks announced the team has signed forward Reese Johnson to a three-year, entry-level contract that runs through the 2021-22 season. The deal has a $925,000 AAV.
Johnson, 20, will remain with the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL for the rest of the regular season. Johnson is the captain of Red Deer and has 22 goals and 23 assists in 62 games this season. He is listed at 6-1 and 192 pounds.
Johnson ranks second on the Rebels in points behind Brandon Hagel, who was a sixth round pick by the Buffalo Sabres in 2016. The Hawks signed Hagel as a free agent. Hagel has 92 points in 61 games.
He can win face offs. That would be nice. I like picking up players that are captains. Seems like a good signing
We have nothing but job openings for bottom 6 forwards so if this guy has the potential to eventually fill one of those spots maybe it’s worth a shot (and he wasn’t signed to replace 19 or 17 so it doesn’t really matter if he isn’t scoring that much as an overager).
What Jordy said. Need those kind of players.
65/65/65
36/16/67
Solid signing by Bowman, under the radar, young non NHL players like this. The bottom six is so bad, he realized this recently instead of last summer and prior thereto. Bowman is the one who constructed the roster, not Q. And the bottom six still sucks. The top six is better, a day late and a dollar short.
Where is the accountability of Bowman re this season? And last? Let’s waste two years plus of Hall of Fame players.
Good job Bowman, thanks.
P.S. yes, I keep repeating this theme when opportunity arises, but it’s imperative that Bowman be called out on this, even in an innocuous blog like this. He needs to go.
We only have bottom six forwards as prospects…..so why do we need another one ? The ONLY top six prospect might be Kurasev…..that’s about it. We all know Sikura will NEVER get a look at top six in the NHL…..not with this coaching staff, and he was supposed to be the next top six prospect….well that changed pretty quickly didn’t it.
Respectfully, re: “We only have bottom six forwards as prospects”
Toews, Kane, DeBrincat & Strome is 4/6 of the top six. Evan Barratt, Philipp Kurashev, Artur Kayumov & Andrei Altybarmakyan are intriguing prospects who might eventually have top six capability. And I think if the Hawks would roll a third line of Saad-Johnson-Sikura that would be a solid third line with some offensive upside.
That being said, I know everyone is still trying to make a business case for giving Panarin $10M+ this summer. I’m not sure a third $10M forward solves what’s wrong with these Blackhawks.
The biggest question surrounding Altybarmakyan is whether or not the Hawks have a small enough font to fit his name on the jersey. This bears watching.
Hammers was on arms/near it.
Tab….sorry, but both of those Russians will not make it here, heck they can’t even score in those crappy Russian leagues, Barratt is another prospect with promise, but not top six, he is a third liner. Sikura needs to be on the 2nd PP, Kahun needs to be removed from that unit and give Sikura a chance…..Hagel is not even mentioned, why ? Maybe because a lot of high scoring Canadian juniors can’t produce in the NHL. Anyway, that’s how I see it.
We shall see. Love the breadman but you can’t load 40% of your cap on 3 players. That’s a recipe for disaster. We need quality and depth across the board.
Agree with Hawk One and Tab. Way too much of the cap on just 3 players. Panarin alone does not solve all of the problems. We need a good veteran d-man while our highly-talented youth develops in the minors and then is given time to develop with the parent club. We have one great C and one good middle-six C. Need another good middle six C badly. How about the G problem. Needs to get solved by end of next season while K&T are in their prime.
Hawks One-I agree as it looks like if Panarin gets what he wants it would be about 37% of the potential 83 million-that’s too much. I think if you could hand pick three player (any age, position ,team) to go to one team then up to 40% might be viable.
But at 31 (both Kane and Toews next year) and Panarin will be 28 it makes no sense. If you add in Seabrook, Keith and Crawford (34, 36, and 35) that would be 6 players at
60 % of the cap hit.
The Hawks have 2 stars and a great warrior on defense-add in 2 or three really good young pieces like Debrincat their best chance is to add the right mix of players and style of play (like Vegas last year) and go for it-going further into cap hell makes no sense.
But it starts with the D, and a goalie that can be a difference maker when needed like Fleury was last year. Right now that isn’t a reality. The back-end and commitment, each night, needs to be better.
Agree with many on here, this year has clearly shown that we have some enviable top end talent; 88,19,20,17 & 12. We have some high end prospects coming on D. What we need is some grinders, bangers and trustworthy depth scorers on O, think 24 qualifies. We also need to decide what our goalie situation is moving into next season.
I would like to see Dahlstrom and KK play ahead of Forsling the rest of the way. Forsling hasn’t shown the compete level or the consistency that he needs to and this is the third year where he has gotten a good look with the big club.
I thought (okay, hoped) he had turned the corner when he got off to a good start this year, but he has regressed once again. I also don’t think the 200 game development argument should apply to him. High picks might get that, and same with guys who generally improve but this guy has shown little more than fits and starts for too long.
Dahlstrom has shown more promise and we still need to find out about KK, so prefer to see them. Maybe shut Seabrook down for the last few games as well so they can all get more ice.
Agree with everyone of you guys on loading up the roster again. I would be ok with Bread Man if Seabs contract was traded/whole thing and then thats 7 of the 9 right there. Then it fits. Essentially trading Seabs for Bread Man.
During the summer 19 and summer 20 and draft and during the two coming 82s we need/have to have to add those players/the positions you guys talked about the other day as must adds.
Or whats the point. You cant load roster entirely through draft.