Blackhawks Offseason Looks to Have Big Changes for 2024-25

This was done by design, as general manager Kyle Davidson wanted flexibility during the beginning stages of the rebuilding process. A few free agent players might be re-signed, but most will be replaced as the team looks to take the next step.

Players On the Out

Veteran Tyler Johnson was the most vocal about his intentions during his exit interview. He was traded to the Blackhawks by the Tampa Bay Lightning as a salary cap dump in the 2021 offseason. He’s spent the last three seasons with the Blackhawks, but his seven-year contract with a $5 million annual cap hit is finally complete.

Johnson was a leader, mentor and good teammate during his time with Chicago, but he made no bones about wanting to move on.

To be fair, the organization made it pretty clear they didn’t want Johnson back even if he aimed to stay. They re-signed veterans Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson and Petr Mrazek back in January, establishing the veteran leadership group at that time. The 33-year-old Johnson has become expendable as younger players push for roster spots.

There are some other players, however, who sound like they want to stay, even if that doesn’t come to fruition.

31-year-old depth forward Colin Blackwell stated, “I enjoy being around the young guys and teaching them some things about the game and having what they have rub-off on me. I enjoyed my role and I hope to be here.”

The affable MacKenzie Entwistle seems to understand this team is on the rise, and he wants to be a part of it. “Personally, I’d love to be a part of this and be around these young players. If you’re a Blackhawks fan, you should be excited.”

Blackwell and Entwistle are hard-working role players that are easy to like. But they both might be pushed out with younger prospects and some key free agent additions coming in to compete for their spots. Other Blackhawks’ free agents on the bubble include forwards Taylor Raddysh, Joey Anderson and Reese Johnson, along with defensemen Nikita Zaitsev, Jarred Tinordi and Jaycob Megna.  

New Players Coming In

Forward prospects such as Landon Slaggert, Frank Nazar and Colton Dach will have a chance to compete for a spot on next season’s roster. On defense, Ethan Del Mastro and Nolan Allan will get a long look at training camp as well.

With so many young players on the roster, Davidson will likely look to add some more established talent to balance this out. He still wants to keep his flexibility and only sign players to one to three-year contracts, so it will be a balancing act to find the right pieces.

It sounds like Davidson is committed to taking this further step next season. Let’s get to some more thoughts from Davidson, and head coach Luke Richardson.

Statements on the Future From Richardson & Davidson

Richardson gave some insight into the future plan from a coaching perspective when he spoke with the media during exit interviews. “We want to surround these young guys with some veterans but it all depends on who is available…we still have to have some patience…I go into every game thinking we can win. I want to get to a point where the reality is we have a chance to win every night.”

The Blackhawks just didn’t have the depth they needed last season to put themselves in a position to win every night. But now they want to start getting closer to that goal. Richardson wants to make this a reality, instead of just pushing for that expectation. Davidson added, “We don’t want to finish where we finished this year moving forward.”

I would expect the Blackhawks to target at least one or two forwards, as well as one or two defensemen, depending on who’s willing to sign shorter term contracts. The Blackhawks have plenty of cap space available, so they’ll be able to overpay these players for their services. Said Davidson, “We’re in a really good spot with space and flexibility. You don’t want to do anything that hurts you long-term. We’d like to be responsible with it while balancing short and long-term objectives.”

Other incentives to lure free agents to Chicago could be the chance to pay with Connor Bedard, playing a mentoring role (perhaps a defenseman to partner with and bring along Kevin Korchinski), and just a larger overall role in general than they might get playing for another team.  

Bedard’s Impact in 1^st NHL Season, and Beyond

Speaking of Bedard, he certainly made his mark in his first NHL season. The Blackhawks will be building around this new face of the franchise, and there’s no doubt his presence has accelerated the rebuild. Not only did Bedard impress on the ice, but he showed a maturity beyond his years off the ice as well. It appears he’s more than ready for the pressures of the NHL.

It’s true that everyone wanted a piece of Bedard this season. Everywhere the team went, his media obligations were endless. There were always fans that wanted autographs. All that pressure and attention would be taxing on anyone, much less an 18-year-old in his first season experiencing the NHL grind. It must have been very difficult to manage all that and then flip a switch and focus on playing hockey.

But Bedard took it all in stride, taking it as his responsibility towards growing the game. The hockey was the fun part of it all; where he was in his element. That was where he could get away from all the outside noise to play the game that he loves.

Despite a season that exceeded very high expectations to begin with, Richardson is a coach that wants to hold his players accountable. That goes for Bedard too. Obviously the offense is there, but his minus-44 plus/minus rating wasn’t exactly a good statistic. For Richardson, he wants to see the defensive side of Bedard’s game improve. The thought process is that this will lead to more offense.  

Bedard did try to do too much, too often this season, with his innate determination to win. But he didn’t have a whole lot of help around him, so I could see how this would happen. Which goes back to the organization committing to change that, and surround their young stars with more talent moving forward.

One more thing here, and this is from Bedard regarding his head coach. “He gave me tons of confidence right away…he’s always teaching, rather than ripping into you.”

This has been Richardson’s calling card from the beginning; to teach and develop his players in a calm and patient manner. This coming season will be a good test for the head coach as well. Can he also take the next step towards establishing a winning team?

More Intense, Shorter Practices Coming for Blackhawks

Here’s one final interesting nugget that came out of exit interviews.

This is an insightful thought process, and something the team should definitely experiment with. But believe it or not, the idea didn’t begin with the coaching staff; it came from the players. Richardson said he had conversations with the players about strategies for improvement, and they were the one who pushed for more intense practices.

This is just another example of the type of player/coach relationship that should be a recipe for success. The players feel comfortable enough to make suggestions and the coaches are smart enough to listen to their ideas, and implement the ones they feel could be beneficial. We’ll see how this particular suggestion pans out as the 2024-25 season gets underway.

We have a lot to ponder as we await the 2024 Draft on June 28 and 29, as well as the start of the free agency period on July 1. Then we’ll have a better idea what kind of team will hit the ice in October. But the above sets the foundation for where the Blackhawks are headed. Let’s hope the pieces fall into place for a much improved 2024-25 campaign.