The Blackhawks are the team I most closely associate myself with. We needed depth just about everywhere. On the forward side, signing Bertuzzi and Teravainen was HUGE. I liked getting Smith, Maroon and Mikheyev for depth, and bringing Anderson back was definitely justified. Missing Hall and Athanasiou hurt last year. Badly. Hoping having this veteran talent can help Bedard continue to develop into a star (he already is one). Defense needed major help. Vlasic-Jones is your clear 1st pairing. Martinez is a huge pickup on the back end. I like Murphy a lot, but I think 3rd pairing is totally fair. Korchinski is a very solid young D-man. Goaltending had a major hole. Soderblom was clearly not ready for NHL. He can now go back to Rockford, and hopefully not hurt Commeso's development. I like Brossoit a lot. I have no idea how he wasn't a #1 starter anywhere. Bringing in all of this veteran depth can let the young guys from either last year's lineup or the draft (Levshunov, etc.) go down to Rockford and develop into stars before they come up and help the team contend by 2026 or 2027. I am very excited about the future of the Blackhawks organization as a whole! Davidson has been absolutely cooking in both the draft and free agency, and Richardson coaches his guys tough no matter who's out there. Again, I'm excited!
The Blackhawks are the team I most closely associate myself with. We needed depth just about everywhere.
On the forward side, signing Bertuzzi and Teravainen was HUGE. I liked getting Smith, Maroon and Mikheyev for depth, and bringing Anderson back was definitely justified. Missing Hall and Athanasiou hurt last year. Badly.
Hoping having this veteran talent can help Bedard continue to develop into a star (he already is one).
Defense needed major help. Vlasic-Jones is your clear 1st pairing. Martinez is a huge pickup on the back end. I like Murphy a lot, but I think 3rd pairing is totally fair. Korchinski is a very solid young D-man.
Goaltending had a major hole. Soderblom was clearly not ready for NHL. He can now go back to Rockford, and hopefully not hurt Commeso's development. I like Brossoit a lot. I have no idea how he wasn't a #1 starter anywhere.
Bringing in all of this veteran depth can let the young guys from either last year's lineup or the draft (Levshunov, etc.) go down to Rockford and develop into stars before they come up and help the team contend by 2026 or 2027.
I am very excited about the future of the Blackhawks organization as a whole! Davidson has been absolutely cooking in both the draft and free agency, and Richardson coaches his guys tough no matter who's out there. Again, I'm excited!