The Blackhawks have a familiar problem staring them in the face, and it comes with two young defensemen instead of one.
Chicago is watching the Detroit Red Wings' stalled negotiations with restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson unfold, and the lesson is hard to miss: the longer a team waits, the more expensive the fix can become. The Blackhawks are in a similar position with Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel, both former first-round picks and two of the club's top six blueliners, who are now in the final seasons of their entry-level contracts.
That timing matters. With player costs rising and the salary cap climbing, the price tag on both players is only likely to grow if Chicago pushes the issue down the road.
Vancouver Canucks defenseman Zeev Buium has already helped set the market with an eight-year, $75 million contract carrying a $9.38 million cap hit, and Edvinsson's next deal is expected to land in a similar neighborhood. Even less established defensemen are getting paid, too, as Anaheim Ducks blueliner Tristan Luneau landed a deal worth more than $7 million per season despite appearing in as few as 14 NHL games.
For Chicago, that creates a tricky balance. Levshunov and Rinzel have not yet made a major impact at the NHL level, so locking them up now would mean betting on what they can become rather than what they've already proven.
But waiting carries its own risk, especially in Levshunov's case if he develops into the top-pairing defenseman the organization believes he can be. And beyond the money, there is the optics problem: it is never a good sign when a team can't find a path to getting deals done.
The cap sheet is the immediate roadblock. The Blackhawks have just under $1.5 million in available space, which makes adding two meaningful contracts a complicated puzzle.
So while the cleanest solution may not arrive until the offseason, that does not make the issue any less urgent. General manager Kyle Davidson will have more flexibility then to move money around and figure out a way to keep both players. Still, if Chicago can get ahead of it sooner, it would leave the team in a much stronger place against the cap.
In Other News...
Blackhawks Young Core Delivered On Patrick Kanes Big Night
Patrick Kanes first trip back to the United Center since February 2023 gave the Blackhawks a marquee backdrop for their home opener on Oct. 6, and the building had the feel of a night built around both memory and momentum. Chicago handled the St. Louis Blues 4-2, with the young core delivering enough timely energy to make the evening about more than just the former franchise stars return.
Sam Rinzel and Anton Frondell were among the names that stood out in a game where the Blackhawks kept leaning on their emerging pieces in key spots. Rinzel helped spark the response on a second-unit power play, and Frondell followed soon after on a setup from Artyom Levshunov, a sequence that underscored why this roster is so closely tied to what happens next rather than what happened in the past. [Read more 🡒]
Blackhawks Finally Gave Fans Hope On A Night They Desperately Needed It
The Blackhawks finally gave their home crowd something to hold onto, beating the St. Louis Blues 4-2 for their first home win of the 2026-27 season. It was the kind of night that felt overdue in Chicago, with Sam Rinzel, Anton Frondell, Cole Smith and Frank Nazar all finding the net to power a much-needed result and give the building some life.
The response carried extra weight because the Blackhawks had to chase the game after falling behind early, then steadied themselves and kept pushing until the outcome was secure. Even so, the mood around the win was tempered when coach Jeff Blashill said Teuvo Teravainen left with an injury and will not travel for the next game, leaving a spotlight on a victory that came with at least one fresh concern attached. [Read more 🡒]
Blackhawks Win Showed Exactly What This Young Core Still Lacks
The Blackhawks got a useful home win over the Blues, 4-2, and it came with the kind of fingerprints this season keeps pointing toward. Frank Nazar, Artyom Levshunov and Anton Frondell were among the young players helping drive the night, while Spencer Knight steadied things in goal with 26 saves as Chicago found a way to finish off a divisional opponent at home.
Even so, the game also laid bare the sort of rough edges that still follow this group around. Chicago had defensive lapses along the way and now has a difficult stretch coming up, which makes the margin for error feel a little thinner despite the points in the standings. The talent is showing up more often, but the Blackhawks are still searching for the cleaner, more complete performance that turns flashes into something sustainable. [Read more 🡒]