The Chicago Blackhawks have already checked off their biggest restricted free agent box for 2026-27, but two more young defensemen still need new deals.
Connor Bedard was the headline item of the summer. Chicago locked him in on a five-year contract with an average annual value of $15 million after what the source described as a complicated process shaped by injury and offer-sheet drama around the league.
Drew Commesso is also under contract now after signing an extension to avoid arbitration. His two-year deal is structured with a two-way first season - $800K in the NHL and $200K in the AHL - followed by a one-way year at $900K.
The cap hit comes in at $875K. When that contract runs out, Commesso will once again be an RFA with arbitration rights.
That setup gives the Blackhawks some flexibility beyond next season. It could position Commesso to become the full-time backup for Spencer Knight after the 2026-27 campaign, which also matches the timing of Arvid Soderblom’s expiring contract.
That leaves Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro as the two remaining RFAs from Chicago’s summer group. Both are defensemen, and both have had uneven stretches at the NHL level.
Korchinski’s path has been the more complicated one. In 2023-24, he spent his entire age-19 season in the NHL and appeared in 76 games, finishing with 5 goals and 10 assists for 15 points while learning on the job as a teenager on defense.
The Blackhawks later acknowledged that putting him in that spot was a mistake, and since then they’ve mostly sent him to the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs. Over the two seasons since, he has played only 29 NHL games.
At the AHL level, though, Korchinski has been mostly excellent, and he even earned All-Star Game MVP honors. That uneven track record makes him a tricky player to price, and the expectation is that a two-way contract is coming for the 22-year-old, though the money and term are still uncertain.
Del Mastro, meanwhile, comes with a different profile. As a fourth-round pick, 105th overall, he doesn’t carry the same pressure as a first-rounder like Korchinski. He has been a slightly better defender in the NHL, but his skating and puck skills are not at Korchinski’s level.
Even so, Del Mastro’s NHL floor is higher, and that gives the 23-year-old value as a young defenseman. Still, the source notes that other young players at the position have moved ahead of him in recent years, in the same way Korchinski has been pushed down the ladder.
For either player, the next deal is unlikely to be a major payday or a long-term commitment. Their slower development has taken leverage off the table. The upside is still there later on, but first they have to keep climbing.
In Other News...
Blackhawks Season Plans Are Finally Starting To Take Shape
The Blackhawks are starting to put some structure around the upcoming season, and the first sign came off the ice with the release of the teams promotion schedule. For a club still trying to build momentum with its fan base, those dates and themed nights do more than fill the calendar. They help sketch out the rhythm of the year before the puck even drops, giving a sense of when the United Center will be at its busiest and what kind of crowds the team is hoping to draw.
It also comes at a time when the rest of the league is busy shuffling front offices and support staffs, from the Islanders adding Evan Gold to handle duties tied to their new AHL affiliate to Toronto and Minnesota making their own personnel moves. Chicagos step is more modest, but it fits the same bigger picture of a franchise trying to get organized from top to bottom. The real question now is how the Blackhawks will layer the hockey part of the plan on top of that promotional framework. [Read more 🡒]
Blackhawks Scoring Race Could Look Very Different Than Fans Expect
The Blackhawks scoring picture for 2025-26 is already taking shape, and it may not follow the familiar script of simply handing the whole attack to Connor Bedard. After a season spent sorting through where the offense was coming from, the projection work around the lineup points to a more layered race at the top, with Bedard still central but not operating in a vacuum. Frank Nazar and Tyler Bertuzzi are part of that conversation too, and the goal totals and assist totals being floated for this group suggest Chicago could look more balanced than many fans might expect.
Connor Bedards offseason shoulder surgery adds another wrinkle to the early-season forecast, because the Blackhawks may have to open the year without their most obvious star driver. In his place, the offensive load could spread quickly, especially with Patrick Kane and Bowen Byram positioned to factor into the teams top scoring and power-play roles. For a club still trying to define its identity, the race for points might end up being less about one runaway leader and more about which names seize the biggest opening when the season starts to unfold. [Read more 🡒]