Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski of ESPN: Looking at some of the offseason questions and decisions the Chicago Blackhawks are facing.
Young forwards get paydays – The Blackhawks don’t have a lot of salary cap space and have pending RFAs in Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome. They may not be able to fit in their other pending RFAs Drake Caggiula and Slater Koekkoek. Brandon Hagel could replace Caggiula and Ian Mitchell should earn a spot on the blue line.
A question in net – Corey Crawford is 35-year olds and a pending UFA. If they want to bring him back it may have to be a one-year deal and not a big salary cap hit. The Blackhawks don’t really have an internal starting option. The free agent market may cost more than Crawford.
Leadership – From the management side of things. Who is calling the shots from the top? Will GM Stan Bowman and coach Jeremy Colliton be back?
Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers: Offseason questions for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Who are the goalies going to be? Corey Crawford is a UFA, Malcolm Subban is a RFA, Kevin Lankinen hasn’t played in an NHL game and Collin Delia has a year left on his deal. Re-signing Crawford is the easiest move but he’ll need to give them a discount.
How much does Dominik Kubalik get? The rookie scored 30 goals last season. The Blackhawks may want to sign the soon to be 25-year old a bridge deal. That may make sense for Kubalik as well.
Where does Dylan Strome fit in? He’s a pending RFA and Kirby Dach could play ahead of him next season. The Blackhawks could look to trade him, or qualify him and re-sign to a one-year deal.
What is Brent Seabrook‘s future? He has four years left at a $6.875 million cap hit and is coming off surgeries. Seabrook may not have guaranteed spot on their blue line if/when he comes back. They would need to attach an asset to any Seabrook trade, and that may not even be enough.
Will the Blackhawk buy out Olli Maatta or Zack Smith? Maatta has a $4.083 million cap hit through 2022-23 and Smith as a year left $3.25 million. They will likely try to trade Maatta.