The summer of 2023 has been a wild one for GM Kyle Davidson and his team. With several veteran additions, as well as young prospects making the jump, this offseason hasn’t only been about the great Connor Bedard. Despite all the new, high-dollar “cap dumps”, this summer had a growing theme: weaponize the abundant cap space while maintaining financial flexibility for the future.
The mantra has been stressed time and time again, and Chicago has stuck to the plan. In fact, each contract of the four biggest additions (Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno, Corey Perry, and Ryan Donato) has a term of either one or two years. In fact, in the summer of 2025, the Blackhawks currently only have three contracts to contend with, and the only forward contract for that offseason is Bedard’s.
With so much financial freedom begging to be utilized, it’s never too early to look ahead. At first glance, it seems that there is a strong list of talent hitting free agency next summer. With the Blackhawks hoping to use their massive amount of future cap space, the team could target a few players at the deadline, then sign them to long-term contracts. While big names like Auston Matthews and Steven Stamkos are technically free agents in 2024, it isn’t reasonable to expect them to be on the market. However, two names in particular stand out as potential targets for Chicago.
Adam Henrique – Anaheim Ducks
With Connor Bedard on his rookie contract for the foreseeable future, the Blackhawks’ best championship window is a few years from now, after they flesh out the roster but before all their resources have to be used to keep the young star in a Blackhawks sweater. That’s where Adam Henrique comes in. The 33-year-old superstar is entering the last year of his five-year deal, and the rebuilding Ducks likely don’t have room for the veteran as they shift their thinking toward the long term. The ‘Hawks can swoop in (pardon the pun) and get the rights to Henrique for a reasonable price at the deadline before extending him on a high-dollar deal for a few years, which they can easily afford.
Mark Scheifele – Winnipeg Jets
When it comes to trade talks with the Jets, Connor Hellebuyck is always the starting point as one of the “most tradeable” stars. However, the Blackhawks seem to love the group they have between the pipes, from Petr Mrazek and Arvid Soderblom all the way down to second-round pick Adam Gajan. Instead, Chicago could target Scheifele, a 30-year-old who carries a $6.1 million cap hit. A trade between the Jets and another team would likely force Winnipeg to eat some of Scheifele’s massive cap hit, but with the amount of spare cash the Blackhawks have at their disposal, they could take on the entire bloated contract and maybe even get a sweetener thrown into the deal. The prospect of trading for Scheifele mostly depends on where Chicago sits in the standings, as they’ll want to be in contention if they plan to acquire what would be their second-largest contract behind only Seth Jones, and an extension at a reasonable rate may be tricky. Nevertheless, Scheifele is a former seventh-overall pick who logged 68 points last season, and would be a great on-ice leader for a team still trying to figure out its identity.
The Blackhawks did their time. They went through a brutal rebuild, starting from scratch behind their new GM. With the help of Bedard, the team appears to finally be primed to get back into contention. With a strong class of players that could be headed to free agency next summer, the Blackhawks could use their abundance of salary cap space to lure top-tier talent to Chicago as they hope to eventually make a Stanley Cup run.
