News Article: Why the Blackhawks could be major players for Mikko Rantanen, others this offseason

Who do you want Davidson to make very rich this offseason?


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We are right on time I think. It's been 3 seasons since the rebuild started in honest. That's nothing.

Bedard, Vlasic, Soderblom have established themselves. This year Nazar, Crevier, Reichel and Allan have too as everyday guys. Del Mastro, Dach and Slaggert are knocking.

That's a lot of young guys. You can't expect more really.

Next year Korchinski is coming. Then another big wave with Kantserov, Levshunov our top 3 pick this year. Maybe Moore, Rinzel, Commesso and a bunch of depth forwards like Savoie, Spellacy or Greene.

It's going to be massive waves and this team could look so vastly different as soon as next year.

We can make additions sure, but the impatient takes are not seeing the youth movement hitting it's stride.

I would say this even has a chance for a pretty fast turnaround all things considered. Young guys need to hit of course, but it's more than the light at the end of the tunnel - it's happening already.

Next few years will be really fun as we see which young guys turn into top players and we ascend towards the playoffs and more.
Strongly agree with your post, especially with the young guys coming on and the light at the end of the tunnel.

With that said - it's preferable if KD can add another proven star forward and then supplement the core with the young guys. I don't think that he should worry about cap issues when essentially every contract on the current team expires before the "next wave" of ELC's will end (Bert expires when Nazar's ELC ends, SJ ends 1 year after Lev/Rinzel ELC likely ends). I think it would really help to have another difference maker who can help Bedard reach his potential instead of having to carry his entire line like last year, or much of this year.
 
Yes, but you have to get to that point. Your acting as if they will automatically be a contender in 4-5-6 years with just prospects drafted.

I can understand both rationales.
I mean, you can still sign good players, trade for good players, etc. You usually make huge mistakes signing UFAs to massive contracts. Not many good examples of great UFA signings out there that helped propel a bottom feeder to contender status.
 
Then you get those guys when we are at that point.


If I'm paying 13-14mil for a player, they better damn well be playing at a point per game pace or better, while they are making that money.
The problem for me is that you can't guarantee that any of the top tier guys we're really talking about (Rantanen, Marner, Connor, Kaprisov, Eichel, etc.) actually make it to UFA. If any of them do, I think KD should make a serious run at them instead of maybe worrying about "jumping the gun" 1 year early instead of hoping that someone else will actually make it to UFA status the following year.

I think the last "premier forward" who made it to UFA status would be Panarin, and that was like 5 years ago.
 
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Strongly agree with your post, especially with the young guys coming on and the light at the end of the tunnel.

With that said - it's preferable if KD can add another proven star forward and then supplement the core with the young guys. I don't think that he should worry about cap issues when essentially every contract on the current team expires before the "next wave" of ELC's will end (Bert expires when Nazar's ELC ends, SJ ends 1 year after Lev/Rinzel ELC likely ends). I think it would really help to have another difference maker who can help Bedard reach his potential instead of having to carry his entire line like last year, or much of this year.

I agree and I'm also a proponent for it. I guess I just don't see it is a must win condition, without which we stay bottom feeders. But for sure, there is room - and merit - for a top FA to come in.

Top 3 pick (has a chance to be fair), Kantserov, Moore, Boisvert... They won't be coming next year, and will be sheltered the year after, so that's two seasons of a top six of:

Bertuzzi - Bedard - Nazar
Teravainen - Dickinson/Reichel - X

That would be stalled development I think for those two years at least. But even after, there will be plenty of room for a Marner/Rantanen.

So I'm a fan for sure, let the young guys develop with some actual quality forward that is confident, skilled and comes from the right culture. But if it doesn't happen - I think we will also be fine.
 
The problem for me is that you can't guarantee that any of the top tier guys we're really talking about (Rantanen, Marner, Connor, Kaprisov, Eichel, etc.) actually make it to UFA. If any of them do, I think KD should make a serious run at them instead of maybe worrying about "jumping the gun" 1 year early instead of hoping that someone else will actually make it to UFA status the following year.

I think the last "premier forward" who made it to UFA status would be Panarin, and that was like 5 years ago.
Panarin, Tavares, Gaudreau :(, Guentzel are all high profile expensive players that switched teams via UFA.

Huberdeau, Eichel, Stone, Tkachuk, Meier, Laine, Reinhart, Horvat, Zibanajed, Dubois, Hertl, Miller are all additional ones that were acquired via Trade. (not including Rantanen and Necas for now, also didn't include someone like Forsberg that was traded while a prospect).

Hawks in a couple years very well could be dipping into picks and prospects and trading for say, B. Tkachuk and then extending him 8 years. However, that's less possible to do if you've already thrown a bunch of cap at an (older) Rantanen.
 
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The problem for me is that you can't guarantee that any of the top tier guys we're really talking about (Rantanen, Marner, Connor, Kaprisov, Eichel, etc.) actually make it to UFA. If any of them do, I think KD should make a serious run at them instead of maybe worrying about "jumping the gun" 1 year early instead of hoping that someone else will actually make it to UFA status the following year.

I think the last "premier forward" who made it to UFA status would be Panarin, and that was like 5 years ago.
That's the thing, we don't need a big UFA signing for the next 3-5 years. We need to hit on a low cost UFA, a trade, and prospects, and then when we are teetering on being a playoff team, then you can make a splash to put us over the edge.

And yes, the Rangers jumped the gun on Panarin, struck out, now he's 33 and slowing down, and they are probably going to have to rebuild....again.
 
That's the thing, we don't need a big UFA signing for the next 3-5 years. We need to hit on a low cost UFA, a trade, and prospects, and then when we are teetering on being a playoff team, then you can make a splash to put us over the edge.

And yes, the Rangers jumped the gun on Panarin, struck out, now he's 33 and slowing down, and they are probably going to have to rebuild....again.
1) Get to a playoff team "internally"
2) Trade a 20-something overall pick, some prospect and whatever for a forward from a non-playoff team close to UFA years that is a good fit for your team and whom you wouldn't mind giving a UFA extension to
3) They extend because you're a playoff team and it's a good fit for them playing next to Bedard and whatever
4) Profit

This seems to be the "model" so to speak.

Doing this too soon because you skipped step 1 is a potential disaster however, as you end up trading like the 12th pick, you're not a playoff team so the guy isn't that interested in re-signing and you're just potentially flipping him for fifty cents on the dollar what you paid. Also called the Ottawa Senators DeBrincat/Chychrun Experience.
 
Until this team shows real promise they’re not attracting anyone good anyway. Does anyone think Marner or Rantanen are interested in being here ?? No way they’ve gotta show something.
 
Until this team shows real promise they’re not attracting anyone good anyway. Does anyone think Marner or Rantanen are interested in being here ?? No way they’ve gotta show something.

Money will matter more than anything else and not many teams will have as many cap dollars to spend as Chicago will.
 
I’m all for going for Rantanen. Players like that don’t hit UFA very often. Hell, there’s a good chance he doesn’t hit UFA. The cap jumps quite a bit this year iirc. And the cap is only going to continue to rise. Who knows what it looks like 2,3,4 years from now. I think a $13 mil contract is enough to take on considering we have a head start against a lot of teams when it comes to cap space.

That being said, I understand that we’ll have to start signing the younger guys to longer contracts too depending on who pans out. But if Davidson is able to pull off other contracts like Vlasic… idk. Seems manageable for me, aka an armchair GM who played too much NHL games for a decade.
 
Panarin, Tavares, Gaudreau :(, Guentzel are all high profile expensive players that switched teams via UFA.

Huberdeau, Eichel, Stone, Tkachuk, Meier, Laine, Reinhart, Horvat, Zibanajed, Dubois, Hertl, Miller are all additional ones that were acquired via Trade. (not including Rantanen and Necas for now, also didn't include someone like Forsberg that was traded while a prospect).

Hawks in a couple years very well could be dipping into picks and prospects and trading for say, B. Tkachuk and then extending him 8 years. However, that's less possible to do if you've already thrown a bunch of cap at an (older) Rantanen.
IMO, you list 3 UFA's in MR/MM range that signed over the last 7 years. If you have a chance to add a top 10 F in the league for just cap space, it's a slam dunk.

Because the other option would likely be putting 2-3 of your high value assets in a deal for a star player, if one of those is available, and if KD can seal the deal. Those players are typically dealt for non hockey reasons, and IMO you just can't say "go hugely win a trade" and make it happen. In either case, you likely likely have to overpay on too long a contract to get them to extend after you acquire them.

Please note that I think it highly unlikely that MR or MM make it to market, and even less likely they'd sign with the Hawks. But if it was possible, I think it's a must do even if it's slightly ahead of the optimal timing from a team building perspective.
 

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