The Blackhawks went into free agency with room to maneuver, but the end result was a quieter summer than some fans probably expected. General manager Kyle Davidson made a point of reinforcing the roster, yet most of the activity came on the blue line and much of it was aimed at depth rather than a major swing.
The biggest addition was Bowen Byram, who arrived in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres and then signed a six-year, $75 million contract. That move gives Chicago a legit two-way defenseman who can help at both ends of the ice.
Veteran Ian Cole also joined on a one-year deal with a $4 million average annual value, bringing stability to the back end. Connor Mackey came in on a two-year, two-way deal worth $937,000 and is expected to move between Chicago and Rockford.
Dylan Anhorn signed a one-year deal worth $850,000 and will begin the season with the Rockford IceHogs, while Connor Mylymok also landed a one-year, $850,000 contract and will report to the IceHogs. On the forward side, veteran Cole Smith signed a three-year, $9 million deal and is expected to play a pivotal role.
In all, four of the six signings were defensemen, and that tells the story of where Davidson saw the need. Chicago added a mix of players who can attack from the back end and others who are built more for pure defense, giving both the Blackhawks and Rockford some much-needed depth.
The question, though, is whether that was enough to really push the team forward in the Central Division. The answer is somewhere between yes and no.
Byram is the kind of player who can make a real difference. Cole should steady things.
Smith should matter in the middle six and on the penalty kill. Beyond that, the rest of the moves were mostly about restocking Rockford.
Could Davidson have done more? Sure.
But the market matters, and so does where players want to go. Free agents who signed elsewhere were often chasing Stanley Cup playoff runs or heading to tax-free states.
Chicago has plenty to sell, but even with the salary cap rising, there are limits.
There’s also the part nobody outside the front office can really know: what Davidson actually tried to pull off. Did he go after Brady Tkachuk?
Did he want Sergei Bobrovsky? Maybe he aimed bigger and the players chose other destinations.
Maybe trade possibilities existed too, though no-movement clauses would have complicated that path.
What Chicago does have is a young core that is getting closer to making noise. That matters.
The Blackhawks have pieces in place to move back toward contention sooner rather than later, and Davidson has to be careful about how he keeps building. In that sense, standing pat on some of the bigger names may have been the smartest play.
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The numbers were modest, with 12 assists, no goals and a minus-6 rating, and now the bigger question is what comes next. Grzelcyk is set to hit free agency, and while he should draw interest elsewhere, Chicago appears unlikely to bring him back, leaving another familiar opening on the back end for the Blackhawks to sort out. [Read more 🡒]