There are just four games left in the Chicago Blackhawks’ season, and playoffs aren’t in the picture, obviously.
Although the postseason drought is becoming frustrating, the Blackhawks are well-positioned for this offseason, and fans should be excited about the next season.
Blackhawks general manager (GM) Kyle Davidson has his faults, but between what he’s accomplished through drafting and the recent 2026 Trade Deadline, there is very little work for him to do this offseason.
What Davidson Has Left
The biggest piece of work Davidson has left is obviously the Connor Bedard contract negotiation. Bedard is a restricted free agent (RFA) and is going to get a monster contract, but there hasn’t been any real noise on any type of discussion between the two sides on the contract.
I’m not concerned about that negotiation at all because if there were issues, I feel like we would’ve heard about them by now. I also don’t know how much of a negotiation it’ll be. With the salary cap continuing to rise and Bedard making real progress this season to becoming the player most thought he would be while he was playing in juniors, even if he asks for a top-10 salary in the league, I would still sign him to that.
Cap space isn’t an issue for Chicago, and pretty much everyone is locked up past this season. If they sign him to a seven-year deal, the cap hit might be higher than people are willing to accept, but as I mentioned earlier, with the cap rising significantly in the near future, it’ll age well.
One of the other situations Davidson needs to figure out is whether he wants to retain Ilya Mikheyev. He has been a fantastic veteran for the team this season, playing heavy penalty-kill minutes at a high level. I thought Mikheyev could’ve been a guy Davidson moved at the deadline, and it was reported that Mikheyev’s name was out there.
I’m assuming if he wasn’t moved, that means Davidson would like to keep him around. I wrote in one of my past articles for The Hockey Writers that I’d like to see his deal come in around $3.25 million on a two to three-year deal. Since then, I’ve done more thinking, and while I still think two to three years is the right term, I would be more comfortable with his average annual value (AAV) coming closer to his current deal, which is at $4.5 million.
Then, Davidson has three decisions to make on the blue line. Ethan Del Mastro and Kevin Korchinski are RFAs, and those will likely be easy decisions on low AAV contracts. The other decision is with unrestricted free-agent (UFA) Matt Grzelcyk, who has been pretty good for Chicago this season.
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Grzelcyk has been one of the lone veteran presences in the locker room to help younger guys like Artyom Levshunov. Keeping Grzelcyk would be a good move as a low-risk move and I think they could lock him up on a short-term deal on a low AAV.
Why Blackhawks’ Situation Is Perfect
The free-agent class is famously terrible this offseason. The top free agent at this point is Alex Tuch, and everyone who will be signed is going to be terribly overpaid because of the bare free agent market.
Having a core locked down in this offseason is the dream scenario for any team. The other reason I love the situation the Blackhawks are in is because of how many assets they’ve accumulated.
Although they have their core and young guys coming through, I’ve been very outspoken on wanting Davidson to make moves to speed along the rebuild. With five first-round picks and 12 total picks in the first two rounds over the next three NHL Entry Drafts, Davidson is in a great spot to put together a package for a trade.
The two obvious names I’d be looking at would be Jason Robertson, who is currently not progressing on contract extension talks with the Dallas Stars, and Matthew Knies. Knies’ name seems to be out there with the Toronto Maple Leafs in a weird spot for their future plans.
I already wrote a full article on why I think Knies is the perfect trade target for Chicago: They have a history of trying to acquire him, and just like Robertson, they could easily put together a package that is fair.
Although they need to sign Bedard, the majority of the heavy lifting has been completed. With the core locked up, Davidson can go in any direction he wants to improve the roster without being hamstrung by anything like a lack of assets or salary-cap space.
