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Chicago Blackhawks Acquire, Buy Out Josh Bailey

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11:10 AM: Per The Athletic’s Scott Powers, the Blackhawks are going to buy out Bailey, which is a bit of a surprise move. The Blackhawks will be reducing their cap obligation to $2.66MM this season instead of $5MM, at a cost of a $1.16MM cap hit next season.

9:50 AM: The New York Islanders have parted ways with their longest-tenured player, trading forward Josh Bailey and a 2026 second-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for future considerations.

In a pure cap dump deal, the Islanders have essentially traded a future second-round for an immediate $5MM in cap space. Bailey had been a consistent middle-six threat for the Islanders throughout a 15-year career there, but after just eight goals and 25 points in 64 games this season and multiple healthy scratches, both the player and organization felt it was time to move on.

Once a high-end playmaker, Chicago is still getting a player that might be effective in their current situation. Bailey was a well-respected leader in the Islanders’ room and has made it to multiple Eastern Conference Finals. Alongside Nick Foligno and Taylor Hall, Chicago is quickly putting together an ancillary group of some veteran skill and leadership to surround yesterday’s first overall pick, Connor Bedard.

It’s worth noting that a buyout for Bailey was rather palatable. Per CapFriendly, buying out the final season of Bailey’s six-year, $30MM contract would have cost them $2.67MM this season, providing $2.33M in savings. It would have cost them $1.167MM against the cap in 2024-25. Instead, they cut ties entirely, although it’s for the cost of a decent draft pick.

This is Chicago’s second significant move to weaponize cap space in the last few days, acquiring Hall and Foligno from the Boston Bruins for a pair of minor-league defensemen.

It’s the end of an era for the Islanders, who selected Bailey with the ninth overall pick in 2008. He would go on to play 1,057 games as an Islander, ranking third in franchise history behind Bryan Trottier and Denis Potvin. In that time, Bailey recorded 184 goals and 580 points.

The Islanders now have close to $10MM in projected cap space, per CapFriendly, which could go to re-signing their quartet of notable UFAs in Pierre Engvall, Zach Parise, Scott Mayfield, and Semyon Varlamov.

Chicago Blackhawks Select Connor Bedard First Overall

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One of the NHL’s most historic clubs has acquired a new face of their franchise. Just a few months after saying their goodbyes to Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, the Chicago Blackhawks have selected generational prospect Connor Bedard first overall at the 2023 NHL draft.

The Blackhawks’ selection is perhaps the least surprising first-overall choice since 2015, when Connor McDavid was picked by the Edmonton Oilers. He’s had a junior career for the ages, ever since he first joined the Regina Pats at 15 years old.

Despite not having the strongest supporting cast around him, Bedard managed to post video game numbers with Regina. He totaled 134 goals and 271 points in just 134 games of major junior hockey, taking home an endless number of league awards.

His international play has been similarly stunning. There aren’t enough words in the English language to describe Bedard’s performance at the most recent World Junior Championships, where he scored nine goals and 23 points in just seven games.

Besides size, Bedard offers just about anything a team could want out of an NHL scoring center. He’s arguably the most intelligent player in this year’s class, with the type of hockey IQ that makes him stand out shift after shift.

The moment he steps into the NHL he’ll be among the league’s most lethal shooters as well. Not only is Bedard’s shot extremely powerful and accurate, but it’s also the deception in his shooting motion that really sets him apart. He’s able to let high-end shots loose from a variety of angles and in the face of all sorts of defensive pressure, and he’s got legitimate Rocket Richard Trophy upside.

The Blackhawks are still missing a lot of pieces that Stanley Cup contenders typically boast. Their long-term goalie of the future is still a mystery (Drew Commesso showed some promise at Boston University) and outside of Seth Jones they still lack high-end NHL defensemen.

But Bedard signals an important shift for Chicago. The Blackhawks might not make the playoffs next year, but they’re no longer wandering the hockey wilderness in search of a young, league-altering star to build around. With this pick, they’ve drafted one.

Photos Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Chicago Blackhawks Acquire Taylor Hall

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The Boston Bruins needed to clear some cap space and found a willing participant in the Chicago Blackhawks. The two have agreed on a four-player trade that includes Taylor Hall. The full deal is as follows:

The Bruins will not retain any salary in the deal.

Hall, 31, signed a four-year $24MM contract with the Bruins in 2021 but will last just two seasons before joining the sixth NHL team of his career. The deal does include a 16-team no-trade clause (that drops to 10 teams in a few days) but Chris Johnston of North Star Bets reports that Chicago was not one of the blocked destinations, meaning Boston did not need his approval.

Hall’s $6MM cap hit is not a huge overpayment, as he is still a fine middle-six winger, but the Bruins found themselves in a precarious situation with just a few days before free agency opens. They are interested in bringing back trade deadline acquisition Tyler Bertuzzi, but needed to clear cap before working out any deal. It will be interesting to see if they can close the gap and keep Bertuzzi in the fold once Hall is officially off the books.

After being a part of the best regular season team in history, moving to Chicago is a significant downgrade for Hall. He isn’t joining an organization completely bereft of talent, though—he may even get to play with Connor Bedard, depending on how things shake out.

There is, of course, the possibility that the Blackhawks flip the 2018 Hart Trophy winner as they continue their rebuild. Two years of Hall isn’t going to do a ton for their Stanley Cup chances, and perhaps retaining some salary could mean even more assets for the Bedard-led club a few years from now.

Foligno’s inclusion is interesting, given he is a pending unrestricted free agent. Perhaps he will join the Blackhawks on a new deal to help lend some veteran leadership to the young group. The veteran forward is set to turn 36 in October but had a bounce-back season this year with 26 points in 60 games.

In terms of return for the Bruins, it’s really about the cap space. Mitchell and Regula are both fringe NHLers, who may have missed their window of real potential. Perhaps the Bruins see enough in one or both of them to make them a roster regular next season, but the young defensemen may again be destined for the minor leagues.

Mitchell, 24, played 35 games for the Blackhawks this season, registering one goal and eight points. The 2017 second-round pick has just 82 NHL games under his belt to this point, and is arbitration eligible as an RFA this summer. Interestingly, he does have a connection to Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, who recruited and coached Mitchell at the University of Denver for one season.

Meanwhile, Regula is still just 22 but barely has any NHL experience. He saw just four games with the Blackhawks this season and has suited up 22 times in his career, registering a single point. Selected in the second round of the 2018 draft by the Detroit Red Wings, he is not yet eligible for arbitration.

At the very worst, the defenders could stretch out the depth chart for the Bruins, giving them valuable options to turn to in case of injury or poor performance next season.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first broke the news that Hall was headed to the Blackhawks. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported the full deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Bjork, Simashev, World Juniors

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While former college hockey star Anders Bjork finished his season on a high note after a trade to the Chicago Blackhawks, scoring five points in his last four games and eight in 13 games overall, it seems Chicago won’t be issuing a qualifying offer. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that the Blackhawks “aren’t planning to give a qualifying offer,” though that “doesn’t mean the Blackhawks won’t necessarily re-sign” Bjork, just that they don’t want to issue a qualifying offer at a value of $1.8MM. (subscription link)

Set to turn 27 in August, Bjork spent most of last season in the AHL with the Rochester Americans, the longest stretch he’d spent in the minor leagues in his career. He’d previously been mostly an NHL option, with AHL stretches limited to just a handful of games. He didn’t overwhelm with Rochester, scoring 25 points in 42 games, and was eventually traded to Chicago for future considerations. Bjork showed some life under head coach Luke Richardson in Chicago, and that solid run of eight points in 13 games should serve him well heading into the open market, even if he may not receive a contract at the same value as his qualifying offer.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

  • Russian blueliner Dmitri Simashev was recently ranked 19th in Bob McKenzie’s final draft rankings of the cycle for TSN, though he could end up going even higher than that at the draft next week. As relayed by CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal, Simashev’s agent Dan Milstein says 24 of the NHL’s 32 teams have asked for a meeting with Simashev at the draft in Nashville. He’s a rangy six-foot-four blueliner currently under contract in the KHL through 2024-25. He’s widely regarded as a high-upside prospect with tantalizing physical tools, and in a draft thinner on defenseman compared to forwards, Simashev could be a fast-rising prospect.
  • Hockey Canada, the CHL, and the IIHF announced today that the 2025 World Junior Championships will be played in Ottawa, Ontario. The Senators’ home arena, Canadian Tire Centre, will serve as the event’s primary location with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s’ TD Place as the secondary venue. Canada has won three of the last four WJC events and will hope to take home the gold medal on their home turf just as they’ve done the past two events.

Chicago Blackhawks Re-Sign Joey Anderson

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Forward Joey Anderson has re-signed with the Chicago Blackhawks, earning a one-year, two-way extension. The 25-year-old’s new contract carries a $800K cap hit.

A pending restricted free agent, the Blackhawks acquired Anderson from the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of the return for defenseman Jake McCabe and forward Sam Lafferty in late February. He looked effective while skating in a career-high 38 NHL games this season, split between Chicago and Toronto.

A third-round pick of the New Jersey Devils in 2016, Anderson played 34 games during his rookie season with New Jersey in 2018-19 but largely slipped to a top-six AHL role in the following years. After earning more of a look with Toronto this year when injuries struck, though, he gave the Blackhawks something to think about after the McCabe deal. He stayed in the NHL through the end of Chicago’s season, recording four goals and six points in 24 games before heading to AHL Rockford for the last few games of their 2022-23 campaign.

Anderson was due a qualifying offer of $840K after completing a three-year, $750K average annual value extension signed with Toronto in 2020. His contract was one-way in nature last season, entitled to an $800K salary wherever he played. If he gets demoted to the minors at all in 2023-24, he’ll be taking a pay cut (PuckPedia reports his AHL salary is $475K).

Blackhawks Notes: Toews, Draft Picks, UFAs, Goalies

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Aside from drafting their next franchise center at the end of the month, the biggest storyline in the Chicago Blackhawks’ offseason is what the future holds for his predecessor, captain Jonathan Toews. A return to the Blackhawks has seemed very unlikely for some time, given how the end of the season went. Still, speculation around a return, given the impending entrance of Connor Bedard, has been a topic of discussion.

According to The Athletic’s Scott Powers, Toews is expected to be announced in the coming weeks to announce a decision regarding retirement or a potential move to another team in free agency. Toews, 35, took a leave of absence prior to the 2020-2021 season due to Chronic Immune Response Syndrome, which, along with some effects of long COVID, caused him to miss a stretch of games near the end of 2022-23 as well.

Should Toews choose to hang up his skates, it would mark the end of a notable career that includes three Stanley Cup championships and numerous accolades but a debatable reputation as a captain stemming from the sexual assault scandal that occurred during the team’s 2010 championship run. After completing his eight-year, $84MM contract extension signed in 2014, Toews will surely generate some interest from teams looking to fill out their middle six if he does decide to try and extend his career.

More from Powers on the Blackhawks this morning:

  • In regards to their second first-round pick in the upcoming draft, 19th overall, the Blackhawks have a handful of players they’re hoping will still be available to them – and they’re likely to select a second forward to supplement Bedard. Among the prospects at the scouting combine, forwards Colby Barlow, Oliver Moore, Calum Ritchie, Matthew Wood, and Brayden Yager are potential options for the Blackhawks. Additionally, the team has shown interest in 6-foot-5 Russian forward Daniil But, and general manager Kyle Davidson expressed a lack of hesitancy to Powers around selecting Russian players in this year’s draft. Looking ahead to the team’s four second-round picks, goaltender Adam Gajan, forwards Otto Stenberg and Bradly Nadeau, as well as defensemen Oliver Bonk and Andrew Strathmann are potential considerations for the Blackhawks.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have made their decision regarding pending unrestricted free agents, says Powers, signaling that after re-signing Andreas Athanasiou, the team is unlikely to bring back any of their other UFAs. Players such as Jujhar Khaira and Alex Stalock, among a few others, will explore options elsewhere as the Blackhawks prioritize their roster composition to provide opportunities for younger players and build out some higher-end support for Bedard via free agency.
  • Davidson also indicated to Powers that Arvid Soderblöm and Petr Mrazek are expected to form the team’s NHL goaltending tandem for the upcoming season. Speaking about the young goalies, Davidson emphasized Soderblöm’s potential and the development aspect of their decision-making process so as to not rush their other prospects. Soderblöm, who has already spent time as a North American pro (and played pro in Europe), holds an experience advantage over other prospects like Jaxson Stauber and Drew Commesso.

Blackhawks Notes: 19th Overall Pick, Cap Floor

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AHL Announces Inaugural Top Prospects Team

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Ahead of the 2023 Calder Cup Finals, which starts tonight between the Coachella Valley Firebirds and Hershey Bears, the AHL has released a new award that will intrigue hockey fans across the country. The AHL Top Prospects Team is a group of players that may not be in the minor leagues for much longer.

This year’s group includes:

Tyson Foerster, Lehigh Valley Phantoms

The 21-year-old Foerster was selected 23rd overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2020 and is one of the OHL players forced into the AHL during the 2020-21 season. Even as a teenager, he showed great scoring ability and returned this year to put up 20 goals and 48 points in 66 games.

Foerster made his NHL debut as well, suiting up eight times with the Flyers and putting up seven points—a taste of what will come next for the young forward.

Jiri Kulich, Rochester Americans

The Rochester club has seen several talented forwards come through in recent years, and Kulich is just the latest after being selected 28th overall in 2022 by the Buffalo Sabres. Coming over from the Czech Republic at just 18, he proved he was ready for North American professional hockey by scoring 24 goals and 46 points in 62 games.

Kulich was even better postseason, where he potted seven goals in 12 games. Only turning 19 in April, he was among the league’s youngest players this season.

Lukas Reichel, Rockford IceHogs

Anyone who has watched Reichel this season can see his time in the minor leagues should be over. The 17th overall selection in 2020 made his NHL debut for the Chicago Blackhawks last season and looked overwhelmed. Not so a year later, when he scored seven goals and 15 points in 23 games in the NHL.

The 21-year-old forward has been a dynamic offensive threat since the moment he joined Rockford, with career totals of 108 points in 111 games to this point.

David Jiricek, Cleveland Monsters

If it were a more important season for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Jiricek might not have played a full season in the minor leagues. The 19-year-old defenseman was a menace at the AHL level, scoring six goals and 38 points in 55 games.

Known more for his size and blistering shot during his draft year, the 2022 sixth-overall pick showed improved poise and vision, leading to some lofty expectations in Columbus. Before long, he’ll be a full-time anchor on the Blue Jackets’ blue line.

Simon Nemec, Utica Comets

The other top defenseman from the 2022 draft class was Nemec, who didn’t disappoint in his rookie season. Selected second overall by the New Jersey Devils, the 19-year-old defenseman put up 12 goals and 34 points in 65 games.

Nemec has a wildly entertaining style that sees him fly all over the ice, making unpredictable plays regularly. While he may still take some unreasonable risks, he has a higher ceiling than almost any defensive prospect in the league, and should add that excitement to the Devils group soon enough.

Jesper Wallstedt, Iowa Wild

It was a pretty solid North American debut for Wallstedt, who posted a .908 save percentage in 38 AHL games. The big Swede was the 20th overall pick in 2021 and could buck the trend of goaltenders taking years to develop.

There was obvious growth in Wallstedt’s game during his first season in the AHL, and despite being just 20, he should already be factoring into the Minnesota Wild’s decision-making in net. They already have a young starter in Filip Gustavsson but may not need a backup for long.

Blackhawks Extend Andreas Athanasiou

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PuckPedia is reporting that the Chicago Blackhawks have signed pending unrestricted free agent forward, Andreas Athanasiou, to a 2-year, $8.5MM contract extension. Heading into this summer, Athanasiou was one of only a few Blackhawks scheduled to hit the open market.

In a few weeks, the expectation is that Chicago will select generational prospect, Connor Bedard, with the first overall selection of the 2023 NHL Draft. With the extension of Athanasiou, one of Bedard’s linemates should already be in place.

Originally signed by the Blackhawks to a 1-year, $3MM contract last offseason, it was expected that Chicago might peddle Athanasiou at the 2023 Trade Deadline, but decided to hold onto the forward instead. In 81 games for the Blackhawks this year, Athanasiou had a solid season, scoring 20 goals and 20 assists.

Primarily being known as a goal-scorer throughout his career, Athanasiou has managed to hit the 30-goal mark once, coming back in the 2018-19 season with the Detroit Red Wings. With the prospect of playing on a line with the NHL’s next big superstar, Athanasiou should be able to build on a productive season.

Bettman Presser Notes: World Cup, Senators, Relocation, Nichushkin, Front Office

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Before the start of the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights, Commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, and Deputy Commissioner of the NHL, Bill Daly, gave their annual version of hockey’s “State of the Union” address to the media. The two spoke at length about a plethora of topics, and one of the more intriguing tidbits was that the NHL is looking into bringing back the World Cup of Hockey (Tweet Link).

In 1996, what was formerly known as the Canada Cup, the World Cup of Hockey was born, and it took place at the then-new Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and also the then-new Bell Centre in Montreal. The United States was the eventual champion, beating Canada in three games.

The tournament took a short break, continuing again in 2004, where Canada became the eventual winner against Finland. The last time the tournament was held was back in 2016 when Canada beat the European team in two games.

In the 2016 rendition, the World Cup of Hockey featured new teams such as Europe and North America. The European team featured countries that were not represented by their own national teams, including players from countries such as Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, etc. The North American, which ended up being one of the most fun teams to watch during the tournament, featured players from Canada and the United States that were under the age of 23.

Other notes:

  • As the Ottawa Senators look to find a new owner, Bettman states that the process could still take a couple more weeks (Tweet Link). The last time the Senators went through a sale was back in 2003 when the late Eugene Melnyk purchased the team for a reported sum of $92MM. Melnyk oversaw the Senators team that made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007, and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017. Having passed in the spring of 2022, the team residing in Canada’s capital should have a new owner by the end of the month.
  • After the announcement that the city of Tempe would not be housing the Arizona Coyotes, rumors immediately sprung about a possible relocation. In the press conference, Bettman reported that Ryan Smith, the current owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, has expressed interest in relocating the Coyotes to Salt Lake City (Tweet Link). Although this is considerable news, especially coming from the Commissioner, Bettman did express a strong desire for the Coyotes to remain in Arizona and says that the NHL is helping the franchise find locations in Phoenix.
  • Early in the 2023 NHL Playoffs, it was reported that forward Valeri Nichushkin of the Colorado Avalanche would be sent home for the remainder of the playoffs. Asked about this during their press conference, especially in light of the police body came footage being released, Daly reports that Nichushkin is not under investigation, and is free to play during the 2023-24 NHL season (Tweet Link). Although it was never reported otherwise, it is positive news for Colorado, after recently receiving news that captain Gabriel Landeskog would miss the entirety of next season.
  • As eliminated teams are looking to fill both General Manager and head coach vacancies, it appears that two names could be officially coming to the market. Bettman reports that longtime NHL head coach, Joel Quenneville, and former General Manager, Stan Bowman, have both requested interviews to be reinstated in the league (Tweet Link). Both have been prohibited from working in the NHL ever since the sexual assault exposure from former player, Kyle Beach, came out during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

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