The Chicago Blackhawks are hoping to end their rebuild and be competitive this season, but could make some substitutions to their roster.
NHL insiders Harman Dayal and Thomas Drance of The Athletic believe the Blackhawks may look to buy out veteran defenseman T.J. Brodie.
“It’s unfortunate how rapidly TJ Brodie’s game has deteriorated. One of the most underrated shutdown defensemen in the league during his prime, Brodie’s play fell off a cliff during his final year with the Maple Leafs,” the article read. “In Chicago, the 35-year-old was a flat-out liability most nights, posting the second-worst Net Rating of all Blackhawks players this season. He was a healthy scratch for every Blackhawks game after March 1.
“There’s no room for Brodie on Chicago’s blue line next season, especially with Sam Rinzel and Artyom Levshunov’s impressive late-season cameos,” the article added. “The cap savings of a Brodie buyout are marginal, but doing so would open up a roster spot and allow the franchise to amicably part ways with a highly accomplished, respected veteran rather than unceremoniously burying him in the minors.”
Brodie is entering the final year of his two-year, $7.5 million deal. Buying him out would save Chicago just over $516k this season, but would have a cap charge of $258,333 in 2026-27.
Although the move wouldn’t save much money, it does make sense to get rid of Brodie due to the fact that he likely won’t play much, if at all, for Chicago next season.
Brodie recorded 2 goals and 8 assists for 10 points in 54 games with the Blackhawks.
Blackhawks GM Open to Making Big Moves
Chicago is in the midst of a rebuild, but Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson is hoping that ends soon.
The Blackhawks were one of the worst teams in the NHL this past season. Heading into the offseason, Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson says he’s open to making a bold move.
“I feel like that’s been the consensus every single year I’ve been GM, other than the first,” Davidson said. “I feel like every summer, it’s like, ‘Well, they’ve got to go do something now.’ Look, we’re always open to exploring these things, but it’s got to be right. It’s got to make sense. We can’t do something that’s going to be counter to the path that we’ve set out on.”
Davidson, meanwhile, says other teams will also be after top players this offseason, which does make it harder.
“The other thing, too, is the idea of a big splash, that’s so hard to do, right? That’s so hard to find. Especially with the salary cap going up, there’s a lot of teams that have access to space and money that wasn’t in the system before,” Davidson said. “That’s either going to probably hold players in their current place or create new teams that are in the mix on a few players that do become available. So it creates more competition for a smaller number of players and just makes things harder, right?”
Chicago enters the offseason with just over $25.2 million in cap space.
Which Blackhawks Defenders Are Under Contract
Chicago will enter the offseason with seven NHL defensemen under contract, including Brodie who could be bought out.
The Blackhawks have Alex Vlasic, Connor Murphy, Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, Kevin Korchinski, and Nolan Allan all under contract. With that, Chicago doesn’t need Brodie, and instead can use someone else as the seventh defenseman.
But, the buyout window has opened, and Brodie has yet to be bought out.
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