Five free agents the Blackhawks should consider signing this offseason

Five free agents the Blackhawks should consider signing this offseason

The Chicago Blackhawks are entering a new era of hockey. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are no longer with the organization, and a new franchise player will enter the fold this summer at the NHL Draft.

The Blackhawks hold the number one pick at the 2023 NHL Draft after the lottery balls landed their way last month. That means they will get to draft Connor Bedard, one of the best prospects around since Connor McDavid went to Edmonton in 2015. Chicago will alter their rebuild for the better when they draft Bedard, and part of that will revolve around bringing in some talent to play alongside the young forward.

The Blackhawks currently have about $41.8 million in cap space available for next season according to CapFriendly. The means the team is going to have plenty of room to add players, in fact they are going to have to add players in order to get to the salary cap floor this upcoming season.

While the Hawks definitely can weaponize their cap space to add some bad contracts from teams up against the cap, there also is a chance to add some skill in free agency to help usher Connor Bedard into the NHL.

Getting to play alongside Connor Bedard is going to be a selling point in the NHL, but that probably is not going to be the case this summer. I point that out going into this because there are a lot of free agents available this summer that could make sense on the Blackhawks. With that in mind, some players probably won’t want to come to a rebuilding team if that means they are not going to chase a Stanley Cup the next few seasons. So, let’s take a look at three free agents the Blackhawks should look at signing this summer.