How Blackhawks altered, upgraded their NHL roster on first day of free agency (2024)

Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson didn’t want to make promises.

As much as he sought to make the Blackhawks better than they had been the past few seasons, he wasn’t sure what he could get done in free agency. And so, he tempered expectations heading into free agency when asked whether he would specifically add more offense to his roster. It was best not to get fans’ hopes up.

“It’s something that we plan on exploring,” Davidson said last week. “Once you get into that realm, you’re talking bigger money, bigger term, bigger commitment. So we have to make sure it makes sense. Would we like to add more offense? Yeah, we would. But it’s got to make sense. It’s got to fit. We’ll explore what’s there and see if it does make sense, but it’s something we’ll look into for sure.”

Come the start of free agency on Monday, Davidson did stick to his terms. He didn’t give out a contract longer than four years, which is still long by his standards, but he was more active than most anticipated, signing seven players.

The Blackhawks didn’t land any of the major fish in free agency and probably didn’t elevate themselves anywhere near Stanley Cup contender with what they did Monday, but they did certainly upgrade their roster on paper and create more lineup competition, which was Davidson’s goal for next season.

The Blackhawks also likely made it harder for their young players to make the NHL roster next season. Even though Frank Nazar and Landon Slaggert ended the season in the NHL, there’s no guarantee they start there next season. Based on Monday’s additions, they’d likely begin in Rockford.

“Well, you see how hard the playoffs are and if you can compete in this league every night, you have to have the veteran depth to help on a nightly basis,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said on Monday. “Also, building the depth up in the organization, we saw with injuries last year and I know it was an abundance of injuries at once or trickled together, you have to have a better depth market. You can’t just bring up all young guys when they’re not ready. The idea for Rockford is to develop and if you pull them out of that too early, it’s hard. It kind of takes them out of their timeline and sometimes puts them back even further behind. Adding the veterans and the everyday NHL players to compete and execute every game, every play like we saw (in) the Stanley Cup comes down to Game 7, 2-1 game. Florida didn’t make a mistake in that game and that’s how you win in this league. That’s how we have to try and build our team.”

Here’s a look at the seven players the Blackhawks signed on Monday:

Tyler Bertuzzi, forward, 4 years x $5.5 million

Bertuzzi was the headliner of the day. He is exactly the type of player the Blackhawks needed to put beside Connor Bedard. They had to find someone who can do what Bedard can’t. Mainly, that’s winning pucks and battling around the net. Those are things Bertuzzi excels at. That Davidson was willing to give him four years was significant, too. Aside from Alex Vlasic’s recent extension, it’s longer than any contract Davidson has given out during his time as GM. The Blackhawks felt Bertuzzi was worth it.

“He hunts pucks all the time,” a league source said. “He hunts on the forecheck. He keeps plays alive. He’ll get around the net and can score goals. Given the opportunity on the power play, he can be a great net-front presence. He’s the type of hockey player the Blackhawks will love. All that said, my one concern is his skating may fall off at some point. It’s never been pretty, so maybe he just keeps going regardless. This is a great signing for the Blackhawks.”

Richardson on Bertuzzi: “Bertuzzi’s that guy who’s around the net and he’s hard to handle and he scores greasy goals there. He’s one of those guys you think you have knocked to the ice and even then he’s going to score a goal. And he seems to have a lot of personality himself. That’ll be great. You can’t have enough of that. And he’s a big guy, too, so around the front of the net, it’s a hard place to score in this league and I think the more guys that you have (who) are willing to go there, but who are also good in that area. There will be guys who are willing to go there, but they’re not really that comfortable or don’t like it. But he seems to thrive on that, so that’s going to be a big help. I think the blue paint, who controls it in front of them the best is huge in this league. Once we get to that step and can get to the playoffs, it’s going to be a huge help to be comfortable there.”

Teuvo Teravainen, forward, 3 years x $5.4 million

Teravainen was the second major get of the day. He isn’t the kid he was when he last left the Blackhawks. Can you believe he spent eight years with the Carolina Hurricanes? He’ll be 30 in September. Teravainen still has plenty of the game that got Blackhawks fans excited about his potential back in the day. He’s coming off a season-high 25 goals. Most important to the Blackhawks, he thinks the game at a high level. That was a priority this offseason as they looked to build around Bedard. Teravainen’s vision and intelligence should be an immediate upgrade to the power play.

“Teuvo is a solid top-nine forward that will bring secondary scoring in five-on-five and is a much better defensive forward than he’s given credit for,” a league scout said. “He’s an excellent penalty killer. He has a dangerous shot on the power play, but he just needs to use it more.”

Richardson on Teravainen: “With Teravainen, I know he’s been here before. It was a younger stage in his career. I used to like him when he was here and then there wasn’t enough room for him at that point with that big team. He just thrived with a good skating team in Carolina. We hope he brings that mentality here. The way that Carolina plays is great. We always have trouble with them. They’re fast. They’re high-end skill. He can shoot the puck and make plays on the power play, so it’s going to be really beneficial to have him.”

Alec Martinez, defenseman, 1 year x $4 million

The Blackhawks wanted to bring in a veteran defenseman to balance their young players and also upgrade what they’ve had the past few years in Jarred Tinordi and Jaycob Megna. Martinez checks those boxes. The Blackhawks can now have Seth Jones, Connor Murphy and Martinez play alongside young defensem*n if needed. Martinez, who is a left-handed shot, can also play both sides, so that should create some more flexibility. At one year, the Blackhawks can also walk away from Martinez next season and hand his spot over to Artyom Levshunov or another young player.

Richardson on Martinez: “He can play either side. I saw him obviously lots in Vegas, we played against him when I was with Montreal in the playoffs. He played with Theodore as a younger guy that likes to go and he settles things down with him. He’s a competitor who blocks shots and does all the integral parts in the game that you have to do to win. I think he’s going to bring that leadership from his Stanley Cup-winning days, both in L.A. and Vegas, and that’s invaluable as well. It’s that winning mentality and doing whatever it takes to be calm out there. He’s a guy that seems to be calm out there but he moves the puck well. He’s efficient. That’s going to be great for us to have back there.”

Laurent Brossoit, goalie, 2 years x $3.3 million

Arvid Söderblom didn’t cut it as the Blackhawks’ No. 2 goalie last season. How they were going to approach that this offseason was going to be interesting. For one, they decided to not give Jaxson Stauber a qualifying offer. Stauber had shown some potential in Rockford but wasn’t consistent enough. Once they did that, they had to decide whether to bring in competition for Söderblom or someone to replace him. With Brossoit, it appears to be the latter. For that type of money, the Blackhawks aren’t looking to ship him to Rockford. Brossoit is also coming off a season in which he had a .927 save percentage in 23 games with the Winnipeg Jets. He and Petr Mrázek could share the net down the middle.

Richardson on Brossoit: “It’s going to be two veteran guys that are solid. Brossoit had a real solid game against us last year. He actually might’ve shut us out in Winnipeg one game. He’s a big guy and he’s got a lot of leadership qualities, being a veteran, so helping younger D — like Petr mentioned many times, as well, with him doing that on the ice and in practice and in games even. Another veteran guy back there. Vlasic had a great year, but he’s still a young guy. (Kevin) Korchinski, (Wyatt) Kaiser or Artyom coming up, all these young guys, it’s great to have veteran guys that they can have communication with and help them establish their positioning even quicker in this league.”

Chicago gets decent value for Laurent Broissoit who has looked fantastic in a limited role. We'll see how he fares in a bigger role behind *that* defense though. pic.twitter.com/reLdT4z8K5

— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) July 1, 2024

Craig Smith, forward, 1 year x $1 million

Smith’s production has dropped off with age. He’ll be 35 in September and probably isn’t the 20-goal scorer he’s been in the past, but he should be able to still provide some depth scoring. He could be an asset on the second power-play unit.

“Smith really likes to shoot the puck,” said Corey Sznajder, who tracks microstats for All Three Zones. “Scoring touch isn’t there anymore, but he’s still good.”

Pat Maroon, forward, 1 year x $1.3 million

Maroon adds another component to the Blackhawks’ depth and leadership. He’s someone the Blackhawks can play in a bottom-six role or even sit when needed. He should be an upgrade from what the Blackhawks have had in that role the past few years.

“Maroon is mainly a net-front guy now,” Sznajder said. “Probably just there as a mentor.”

Richardson on Maroon: “I don’t know how many Stanley Cup Finals in a row he was in, and Cups under his belt. I know talking with Jon Cooper in the past, he was disappointed to lose him, and he’s had him all the way back from junior days. He’s really liked by his teammates in the dressing room. He’s a big guy. Like we were talking about with (Sacha) Boisvert earlier, he’s that guy that’s big, tough, has good hands around the net. It’s hard to find those guys, but even a team like Boston realized they could use his value in the playoffs.

“He’s noticeable out there. He makes things happen, he keeps everybody honest on the ice, too — he’s old-school tough and he’s a big guy and he just seems to settle things down out there. Sometimes the guys that don’t have to get into fights or physical altercations because of their reputation are even more valuable because it just settles everything down. I can send him on the ice at any time if things are getting out of control — let’s say that New Jersey game last year — and he’s the type of guy that can change the curve of that game.”

Joey Anderson, forward, 2 years x $800,000

Anderson officially hit the open market because he didn’t receive a qualifying offer or a contract before the deadline, but he and the Blackhawks continued negotiating. Anderson was one of the biggest surprises for the Blackhawks last season. After not making the team out of camp and being sent to Rockford, Anderson was later called up and became one of the Blackhawks’ best players analytically throughout the second half of the season. He especially played well with Jason Dickinson. Anderson should be in the mix for a bottom-six role again this season.

Based on Monday’s signings, here’s what the Blackhawks’ and Rockford IceHogs’ lineups could look like next season:

Blackhawks

Forwards

Tyler Bertuzzi – Connor Bedard – Teuvo Teravainen
Taylor Hall – Andreas Athanasiou – Lukas Reichel
Nick Foligno – Jason Dickinson – Ilya Mikheyev
Ryan Donato – Philipp Kurashev – Craig Smith
Joey Anderson, Pat Maroon

Defensem*n

Alex Vlasic – Seth Jones
Kevin Korchinski – Connor Murphy
Wyatt Kaiser – Alec Martinez

Goalies

Petr Mrázek
Laurent Brossoit

IceHogs

Forwards

Colton Dach – Frank Nazar – Brett Seney
Gavin Hayes – Cole Guttman – Zach Sanford
Landon Slaggert – Paul Ludwinski – Samuel Savoie
Ryder Rolston – Antti Saarela – Jalen Luypen
Marcel Marcel

Defensem*n

Ethan Del Mastro – Nolan Allan
Isaak Phillips – Louis Crevier

Goalies

Arvid Söderblom
Drew Commesso

(Photo of Teuvo Teravainen, Alec Martinez: Katharine Lotze / Getty Images)

Scott Powers is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Chicago Blackhawks. Previously, he covered the Blackhawks and the White Sox for ESPN Chicago. He has also written for the Daily Herald and the Chicago Sun-Times and has been a sportswriter in the Chicagoland area for the past 15 years. Follow Scott on Twitter @byscottpowers