Guentzel isnt making it to Free Agency. Samsonov is just a more expensive version of Soderblom.

Leaf Fan here - I love Sammy. But he is UNPLAYABLE right now. Kind of like how Mrazek was unplayable for the Leafs. I am happy that Mrazek bounced back. At this point Sammy could be had for League minimum. At least 1m or under. No one is paying him 4 x 4. Unless he goes on the most amazing revenge tour for the rest of the year.

Or the Hawks stay the course with this rebuild and add younger pieces that'll hopefully give them a larger window to win Cups. Throwing money at UFA's like this is what puts most teams in cap hell.

This isn’t a serious rebuild. It’s a serious free agency spending spree. There is a difference.

And one that doesn't improve the team much, either. If KD wants to go on a spending spree, there are much better ways to utilize CHI's cap space.

The only move I 100% agree with is getting Stephenson to help out the 2nd line and hopefully help Reichel who might play better on the wing

Agreed. Hawks will need to spend to get back up to the salary floor, but hopefully it is done selectfully as to not take up a ton of roster spots. The kids will still need ice time in order to develop.

$5m for Ghost … $4m for Samsonov who’s currently in the AHL and not even playing or practising
Come on … why ruin a rebuild ??

Well, yes and no... I mostly agree, but the NHL isn't for development and we shouldn't just hand them NHL roster spots. There aren't many CHI prospects that are just going to jump up to the NHL ranks immediately. Nazar maybe has a shot, depending on how much chemistry with other players he demonstrates in camp. Then it depends on who we pick the next couple drafts, guys like Celebrini and Hagens will probably go straight to the NHL. Outside of them, though, most prospects will go back to junior/college or spend at least a year in the AHL. KD needs to create legit roster competition while also not getting locked into any long term contracts that could become a problem.

Something else KD mentioned a while back was something like "building a winning culture starts in Rockford". So, if that is the case, Rockford still has quite a ways to go. But it leads me to believe that he plans on letting most of these kids cook in the AHL for the most part, which probably means most of them will spend anywhere from 1 to 3 years down there, when most of the future Blackhawks haven't even touched the AHL yet. So, if next year is year one for some of them, we still have a few years to go before they start trickling into the NHL roster. Which means they can afford to bring in a few more mid tier players on 1 to 4 year contracts to fill out the NHL roster and get to the cap floor. And those are players that, if they perform, could be trade bait to restock draft capital when kids are ready to take their spots. Such a slow process, but I'm thinking we should probably start seeing some real progress in the standings by the 25-26 season.

Penguins won't have the cap space to resign him sin they got Karlsson unless they trade some of there core.