Thin Free Agent Market, Belief in Young Players Lead to Quiet Day for Blackhawks

Some felt that the summer of 2025 would be when the Chicago Blackhawks announced they were done rebuilding and ready to compete again. Connor Bedard would be entering his third NHL season, and an elite free agent class was waiting to be wooed to the Windy City. Unfortunately, that is not how it played out, as many of the top targets, such as Leon Draisaitl, Mitch Marner, Mikko Rantanen, and Brock Boeser, never hit the open market.

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson has constantly said he’s not going to give out a massive long-term contract just for the sake of doing so. The only player today that is worth that kind of deal is Nikolaj Ehlers, and he wasn’t going to sign with a team that is still a couple of years away from contending. It’s hard to navigate between the fanbase’s impatience and the reality of what the market dictates.

Davidson acquired forwards Andre Burakovsky and Sam Lafferty in a pair of trades to fill in some roster holes. Those are not the additions fans were hoping for, as they don’t push this team towards a significant improvement in the standings. A big trade might still come for a real difference maker, as that seems to be the route to getting an elite player these days. And if one doesn’t before the start of the season, Davidson is more than content to let his drafted players continue to improve and develop. It’s not a popular route, but it isn’t necessarily the wrong one when you consider who was available on July 1.

“I feel happy about the veterans we’ve got and the opportunity for competition amongst our young players if things were to stay the same,” Davidson said. “Of course, we’re going to continue to explore options out there, in terms of trade options. I don’t know how much will be available to us, but that’s always something we’re looking into.”

Davidson said many factors contributed to having a quiet day today, with the large number of players coming off the market before 11 a.m. being a significant one.

“It was a combination of a lot of things,” he said. “It’s a combination of feeling that our young players are ready, and that there’s enough of them so there will be competition there. We do think a number of them can grab spots. Combine that with some of the veterans we have in the system, and trading for Burakovsky. Lafferty was a reaction to the market, getting someone we know on a short term with some flexibility.

“We didn’t want to put players in front of some of the young guys we do think are ready. There aren’t enough spots for all of them to play, so there will be some battles there. They’ll keep each other accountable and honest on earning NHL spots. So, it was a combination of the market, situation, players being ready, and veterans already in place.”

As far as what’s left, Davidson said he’ll continue to look for depth options at defense and another goaltender to play with Drew Commesso in Rockford. As the Blackhawks general manager pointed out, there is still a long way to go before training camp begins. There are a few teams that put themselves over the salary cap today, so trade options will present themselves.