The Blackhawks’ jumble of contract decisions this offseason cleared up slightly Monday.
Forward Adam Gaudette became the first returning Hawks player on an expiring contract to re-sign, inking a one-year deal with a salary cap hit just under $1 million. The 24-year-old ex-Canuck now concretely factors into the Hawks’ 2021-22 depth chart after surviving being exposed to the Kraken in the expansion draft.
The Hawks also delivered qualifying offers to forwards Brandon Hagel and Alex Nylander and defenseman Nikita Zadorov before a Monday afternoon deadline, keeping all three of them restricted free agents.
Conversely, forwards Pius Suter, David Kampf and Josh Dickinson did not receive qualifying offers and will become unrestricted free agents if not re-signed by Wednesday morning.
But the QO decisions, some of which are confusing on the surface, may not accurately foreshadow the Hawks’ plans.
Zadorov, for example, remains a likely trade chip even with his RFA rights retained. The Hawks may not be willing to pay Zadorov’s reported $5 million asking price and also keep Calvin de Haan’s $4.55 million cap hit after just acquiring Seth Jones.
Kampf, on the other hand, may well re-sign with the Hawks despite not being qualified — a move primarily designed to take away his arbitration rights. The Hawks didn’t qualify him before re-signing him in 2019, either.
Hagel and Nylander will definitely be re-signed. Neither hold arbitration rights, limiting their negotiation leverage, so the Hawks should be able to keep both at affordable cap hits. Dickinson was a minor-league player who didn’t factor into the team’s plans.
Suter not receiving a QO was the most surprising news. His agent, Georges Muller, tweeted that negotiations with the Hawks “didn’t lead anywhere yet” and that it “looks like” Suter will become a UFA.
Playing alongside Patrick Kane for much of the year probably inflated Suter’s rookie point total (27 points in 55 games), scaring the Hawks about the money an arbitrator might award him. But general manager Stan Bowman has frequently praised Suter and mentioned him among the Hawks’ youth movement, so parting ways with him already seems odd.
