Ready to start competing

Created by: ChiHawk

Team: 2025-26 Chicago Blackhawks

Initial Creation Date: Jan. 27, 2024

Published: Jan. 27, 2024

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Legend

Left Handed

Original Team

Waivers Exempt

Right Handed

Position

Trade Clause

Max Perf. Bonus

Expiry Status

Term Remaining

McDavid, Connor

$12,500,000 ( Performance Bonus

$250,000)

NMC

UFA - 5

Description

This is the season I see the Hawks ready to start competing and management making summer moves to bolster the roster, in this case come in with a strong long term offer for Rantanen. I see one big move and this could be it ala Hossa type of move. For the record, this is not a cup ready group by any means and at best may sneak into the playoffs, but this team is talented and 25/26 is a year to build chemistry off of that. They will be competitive in the vein of not a bottom 5 team anymore.

2024 draft, Hawks finish 2nd worst behind the Sharks but get pushed down to #3 pick OA based on lottery and get the #12 pick OA from Tampa. They end up drafting Cayden Lindstrom, the 6'5" winger and Ivan Demidov. Both spend the 2024/2025 season in the juniors and russia, and both join the Hawks in 2025 and flank Bedard. Lindstrom is a power forward to compliment Bedard and Demidov a Marner type of playmaker creating a very skilled first line.

The second line is a speed line with Moore, Nazar and Demidov being extremely fast.

Reichel comes around and proves to be a solid top 9 winger and can play up and down the lineup, but in this case have him as a 3rd liner. That said, he certainly can switch with Lindstrom if Lindstrom doesn't look like a 1st liner (I believe he's a little bit of a long shot at top line and more a middle 6 winger anyway). Regardless, Dickinson and Kurashev are both very strong 3rd liners and this should make for a good 3rd line whether Reichel or Lindstrom flank them on the left side.

The bottom line is up for grabs but I feel Guttman is a workhorse, Foligno will still be with the team and is really a 4th liner anyway, and Dach rounds it out. I'm not as high on Dach as some but I think he will definitely be a 4th liner possibly 3rd liner when Dickinson's contract is done.

On the blue line, the obvious is Vlasic and Jones as the top pair. 2nd line of Korchinksi and questionable who his partner is. Is Murphy still with the team and has Rinzel's development continued to improve to surpass him? 3rd line on the left side could be a number of guys, Kaisier, Philips, Allan or Del Mastro with another one of those as the #7 guy.

In net, Commesso doesn't come up until 26/27 so that leaves Mrazek and Soderblom.

This is not a playoff team YET likely, but they will be competing.

Free Agent Signings

RESERVE LIST	YEARS	CAP HIT
Greene, Ryan	3	$925,000
Gajan, Adam	3	$925,000
Misiak, Martin	3	$925,000
Marcel, Marcel	3	$925,000
Moore, Oliver	3	$925,000
Nazar, Frank	3	$925,000
Rinzel, Sam	3	$925,000

RFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Anderson, Joey	1	$1,000,000
Guttman, Cole	2	$1,100,000
Kaiser, Wyatt	2	$1,100,000
Kurashev, Philipp	2	$3,500,000
Phillips, Isaak	2	$1,500,000
Reichel, Lukas	2	$1,500,000
Söderblom, Arvid	2	$1,100,000
Vlasic, Alex	2	$4,500,000

UFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Rantanen, Mikko		6	$12,000,000

CREATED	YEARS	CAP HIT
Lindstrom, Cayden	3	$925,000
Demidov, Ivan	3	$925,000
Rantanen, Mikko	6	$12,000,000

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2024
2025
2026

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
27	$89,500,000	$77,055,833	$0	$4,500,000	$12,444,167

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Lindstrom, Cayden $925,000$925,000	Bedard, Connor $950,000$950,000 ($3,500,000$4M) C RFA - 1	Rantanen, Mikko $12,000,000$12,000,000 RW, C UFA
Moore, Oliver $925,000$925,000 C RFA	Nazar, Frank $925,000$925,000 RW, C RFA - 1	Demidov, Ivan $925,000$925,000
Reichel, Lukas $1,500,000$1,500,000 LW, C RFA	Dickinson, Jason $4,250,000$4,250,000 C, LW UFA - 1	Kurashev, Philipp $3,500,000$3,500,000 LW, C, RW RFA
Foligno, Nick $4,500,000$4,500,000 LW, C, RW UFA - 1	Dach, Colton $825,000$825,000 C RFA - 1	Guttman, Cole $1,100,000$1,100,000 C RFA
	Ludwinski, Paul $931,667$931,667 C RFA - 1	Anderson, Joey $1,000,000$1,000,000 RW RFA
	Greene, Ryan $925,000$925,000 C RFA	Rantanen, Mikko $12,000,000$12,000,000

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Vlasic, Alex $4,500,000$4,500,000 LD UFA - 5	Jones, Seth $9,500,000$9,500,000 RD NMC UFA - 5	Mrázek, Petr $4,250,000$4,250,000 G UFA - 1
Korchinski, Kevin $918,333$918,333 ($1,000,000$1M) LD RFA - 1	Murphy, Connor $4,400,000$4,400,000 RD M-NTC UFA - 1	Söderblom, Arvid $1,100,000$1,100,000 G RFA
Kaiser, Wyatt $1,100,000$1,100,000 LD RFA	Rinzel, Sam $925,000$925,000 RD RFA
Phillips, Isaak $1,500,000$1,500,000 LD RFA
Del Mastro, Ethan $855,833$855,833 LD RFA - 1
Allan, Nolan $825,000$825,000 LD RFA - 1

Top Comments

Jan. 27 at 12:17 p.m.

MeetYourMakar

Joined: Feb. 2020

Posts: 2,830

Likes: 2,481

It would have to be in the 15m range for the Avs to start to consider letting Rants walk

Jan. 27 at 12:46 p.m.

Garak

Joined: Jun. 2019

Posts: 10,941

Likes: 10,754

This should be when we start seeing a larger influx of young prospects making their way into the NHL ranks, for sure. But any expectations of being competitive should probably be tempered. Most of these kids are gonna need at least a season or two in the NHL before they become who they are going to be and learn how to play at the pro level.

Lindstrom and Demidov would be awesome, though! If the TBL pick and Demidov slips that much, it would be amazing. I'm not counting on it, though. I think you underestimate where Demidov is going in the draft. If he were in North America, he would be second only to Celebrini, and might even challenge him for 1st overall. He is probably the most dynamic offensive threat in the draft. I think we have a better chance of seeing Eiserman slip than Demidov. I would have no problem with grabbing Demidov in the 2 to 5 range. Also, I'd bet Demidov extends for a year or two before coming over. There was some mandate I read about recently by the Russian government either urging or requiring Russian players to stay in the KHL for a certain amount of time. I'm unsure on the details and finding accurate reporting on anything out of Russia is not easy.

Also, I doubt Rantanen makes it to free agency. Even if COL keeps him as their own rental next season without intending to extend him, I bet some team probably pays a hefty sum for his negotiating rights before free agency opens. But he would be a very interesting target if available.

Jco5ta5 liked this.

Jan. 27 at 1:05 p.m.

Jco5ta5

Hawks Fan

Joined: Jul. 2019

Posts: 2,652

Likes: 1,679

I doubt the Hawks get 12OA from Tampa. Tampa will make the playoffs. Were looking at the 20th +/- 2 picks.

Jan. 27 at 1:09 p.m.

ChiHawk

Joined: Apr. 2017

Posts: 19,113

Likes: 9,450

Edited Jan. 27 at 1:28 p.m.

Quoting: Jco5ta5

I doubt the Hawks get 12OA from Tampa. Tampa will make the playoffs. Were looking at the 20th +/- 2 picks.

Not so sure of that. Tampa is in 3rd in the division with the Leafs who are 1 point behind and 3 games in hand. Detroit is 2 points behind with 1 game in hand. I think the Leafs will make a move on D and surpass Tampa no problem. Detroit gets Kane back from injury and IF they make a move to bolster goaltending they will pass Tampa. Either way, Tampa is a fringe playoff team at best and could easily drop behind Leafs, Wings, Flyers, Devils, and Kings in the final standings.

Garak liked this.

Jan. 27 at 1:19 p.m.

ChiHawk

Joined: Apr. 2017

Posts: 19,113

Likes: 9,450

Quoting: Garak

In the comments I temper the word "competitive" saying not a bottom 5 team and this being a chemistry year for the group with a slight chance to slip into the playoffs as a bubble team.

I should have said Demidov I see at #3 and Lindstrom possibly dropping. Demidov is the real deal IMO and he's done with his KHL contract in the summer of 2025 and will jump right in, it's been reported he will come over to NA and will not sign again in the KHL regardless of what Russia wants. Given that it looks to be true, he's going to be a immediate impact player for the team that drafts him in the 25/26 season. Lindstrom will need another year before going pro, maybe 2 years, but he's a big big guy and power forward that I believe Bedard could benefit from and than on the other side a guy like Rantanen who's nasty. Lindstrom I could see falling as their is concern with his defensive play but something I think that's fixable....but it's a long shot he falls outside of the top 10.

Colorado is interesting. They are in a bit of cap crunch and Rantanen is going to sign for $12M+, not sure the Avs can afford that in the summer of 25 without making big sacrifices for the rest of the team and the question is, after this season and next, how competitive are the Avs going to look beyond that? If Rantanen wants max dollars and wants to join a team on the rise, it's possible, but ultimately probably unlikely. That being said, there are some other intriguing names, Marner being another one which I wouldn't be surprised to see the Leafs move on from to create a more balanced roster.

Garak liked this.

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