The three most expensive contract on the Blackhawks in 2022
The Chicago Blackhawks are entering the 2022-23 NHL season in something they should have started a while ago, a rebuild.
The roster looks completely different compared to last year, the team has two first-round draft picks already in the system for the upcoming draft, and the list of players that could be moved before the season ends basically includes all the players on the roster.
The Hawks are in a new position going into the season, they are in a position they have not been in a long time.
Today I want to review the team’s salary cap situation a little by highlighting the three highest-paid players on the roster. Two of the players on this list have been here for a long time, while the newcomer recently is seeing a contract extension kick in that is going to make him the highest-paid player on this team for a long time.
Before I jump in, I want to kick things off by looking at the cap space. The Hawks have 7.5 million in cap space as projected by CapFriendly, while in years past that might mean the team would be going out to bring in talent, but that is not the case this year.
The Blackhawks, under the leadership of Kyle Davidson as general manager, are going to try and use their cap space like a weapon to bring in assets to take on a bad contract or retain some salary in a three-player trade. The team is in a position to add more draft picks to their organization and the only way they are going to do that is by bringing on some money.
While this piece targets the top three highest-paid players on the team, I want to take a second and acknowledge the tier below the most expensive contracts.
Here are all the players making three to five million:
Tyler Johnson – 5 million through the 2023-24 season
Connor Murphy – 4.4 million through the 2025-26 season
Jake McCabe – 4 million through the 2024-25 season
Petr Mrázek – 3.8 million through the 2023-24 season
Andreas Athanasiou – 3 million through the 2022-23 season
Max Domi – 3 million through the 2022-23 season
Domi and Athanasiou were signed this offseason to be dealt at the deadline for picks and prospects basically. Mrázek is an option for the team in net while they rebuild and the top three players all have been with the team before.
I think Murphy would be an interesting addition for a team if they are willing to pay the price of the cap hit, and Johnson could be a good deadline additional if the Blackhawks hold half of his salary which they probably would for the right return.
Now without further ado let’s jump in with the three most expensive contracts.
Seth Jones – Chicago Blackhawks Defensemen – 9.5 million through the 2029-30 season
Seth Jones will be the face of the Chicago Blackhawks for a long time – Stan Bowman ensured that. Jones was traded to the Blackhawks last offseason in a major deal that saw a lot of prospects and picks go to Columbus in exchange for Jones.
The Hawks then made sure Jones would stay with the team once his contract was set to end after the 2021-22 season. So the team offered him an eight-year 76 million dollar contract. The deal gives him an annual average salary of 9.5 million and will make him a Blackhawks for basically the remainder of his career.
I am sure Jones did not expect this team to be rebuilding when he accepted this trade, but the situation has presented itself. I once thought this trade could work out for the Hawks, but with the current state of the team it truly does not look great. However now the team needs to make the most of what they have, and what they have is an elite defenseman who will still be signed with the team when they are trying to turn the corner to contention again.
Jonathan Toews – Chicago Blackhawks Center – 10.5 million through the 2022-23 season
Jonathan Toews is tied for the highest paid player in the organization and for good measure considering when the time his contract was given out he had won two Stanley Cups and had just ended a season in the conference final where he took the Los Angeles Kings to seven games.
Toews and Kane signed their extensions with the Hawks during the 2014 offseason, they kicked in the season after the Hawks won their third championship with Toews and Kane. Toews has been the captain of this team for a long time and has been one of the faces of the organization since he was drafted third overall in 2006.
While Jonathan Toews might not really be a 10.5 million dollar center anymore, he is still a valuable piece on this team, and sometimes when you want to keep a star around you have to overpay and give the player some more incentive to sign the deal.
Would the Hawks like to be paying Toews 10.5 million right now? Probably not – but without that contract extension in place entering the 2015 postseason maybe things would have gone differently during the playoffs or at the trade deadline.
Patrick Kane – Chicago Blackhawks Winger – 10.5 million through the 2022-23 season
Patrick Kane is still worth the 10.5 million he makes on any night. Kane has been the best player on the Blackhawks for the past few years, making the team better and more difficult to play against.
If Kane chooses to stay in Chicago, extending him will not be difficult. He could start doing what Ovechkin has done in the past where he signs just one-year deals, or he could choose to swing for another three or four-year deal with the team. Either way, I do think he can make whatever money he asks for from the team.
No team has won a championship with a player making 10 plus million dollars, and while it is not Kane and Toews fault that the team did not win more championships after 2015, the salary cap battle the team was put under when the pair signed their contracts could have played a roll in their decline when the roster had to say goodbye to so much talent to make up the room for Toews and Kane.
The Chicago Blackhawks’ salary cap situation is set to change when the 2022-23 season closes. A handful of players will be off the books or entering their final season under contract and there is a good chance a lot of the players currently on the team will not be in the organization anymore. It will be interesting to see who the highest three paid players are on the team when even next season comes around.