The Chicago Blackhawks are going to have tons of cap space to work with this off-season, but the team has to make sure it’s utilized in the right way.
For a rebuilding team at the bottom of the standings like the Blackhawks, it’s never a bad idea to have some extra cap space lying around during the season to be an option to take on a bad contract for an asset or two. It worked a couple of years ago when Chicago acquired Petr Mrazek and a first-round pick that they turned into Sam Rinzel.
The Blackhawks have the sixth most projected cap space for next season with $34.6 million. That’s not a bad place to be considering the superstars and high-end players that could be available in free agency.
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Chicago made a number of moves to bring in only veterans this past off-season and it was an overcorrection to the season prior having too many young and inexperienced players on the roster to begin with. While the mindset was to add experience and players who have proven they can perform in the NHL, there wasn’t the space for the prospects that a rebuilding team should have. Kyle Davidson has to find a middle ground in the 2025 off-season and continue to add.
So how should the Blackhawks utilize all the cap space they are going to have? In terms of signing the high-end prospects and players on the team, Chicago still has a one-year cushion as 2026 is going to be the big year to do that. This year, the Blackhawks only have to worry about three RFAs – Wyatt Kaiser, Arvid Soderblom, and Louis Crevier.
That doesn’t mean Chicago shouldn’t be managing money and preparing for the following season though. Players like Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, Lukas Reichel, Colton Dach, Kevin Korchinski, and Nolan Allan are a concern and combined, will eat up significantly more cap space. This is the future of the team, so that’s both expected and completely fine.
But just because all of those young players are going to earn more money doesn’t mean the Blackhawks can’t sign a couple of players or acquire a player for one year to bridge the gap. Taylor Hall was already moved while Ryan Donato, Alec Martinez, Philipp Kurashev, Pat Maroon, Craig Smith, and Andreas Athanasiou are all free agents. Davidson and the Blackhawks had the same mentality with half of them this season.
While bridging the one-year gap and potentially taking on a contract, the biggest thing the Blackhawks have to do is strike on a game-changer. The most obvious would be to win the sweepstakes on Mikko Rantanen or Mitch Marner, but there are some talented young players who could be offer sheeted as well. This includes Wyatt Johnston, Marco Rossi, and Matthew Knies. I believe only Johnston is a game-changer of the three, but the other two are very good.
A one-year deal for a player like Claude Giroux, Matt Duchene, or Jamie Benn isn’t a bad idea, while players like Brock Boeser, Nikolaj Ehlers, Jason Zucker, Michael Granlund, and Sam Bennett could all very well hit the open market.
The Blackhawks have to not only make a couple of bigger adds, but allow for their younger players to have room to grow in the NHL as well. It’s a fine line, but Davidson just needs to find the in between of what he has done the last two seasons.
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