Blackhawks signings: Matthew Highmore, prospect Evan Barratt among 4 players given new contracts

Fourth-line forward Matthew Highmore was one of four players signed or re-signed by the Blackhawks on Thursday. | AP Photos

The uncertain timeline of the remainder of the 2019-20 NHL season and ensuing offseason didn’t stop the Blackhawks from announcing four new contracts Thursday.

Fourth-line forward Matthew Highmore and AHL prospect goaltender Kevin Lankinen were both signed to affordable two-year deals — with cap hits under $1 million — while prospects Evan Barratt and Andrei Altybarmakyan inked their entry-level contracts.

Barratt is the most exciting part of the announcement.

A 2017 third-round pick, Barratt was one of the best players in Penn State’s elite program the past three years and had moved up to No. 7 in the Sun-Times’ midseason Blackhawks prospect rankings.

The 6-foot center is playmaking genius who produced highlight goals around every turn in college and scored 77 points in 66 games over the past two seasons.

“What separates him is his ability to make very unique plays at game speed,” Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky said in January. “A lot of players can, when no one’s around and no one’s hitting you, do different things with the puck. But he’s able to do it at game speed, and that’s what is really amazing about him.”

Skating ability has long been the knock on Barratt, but he’d recognized that weakness this year and worked hard to improve in that realm. He has the skill and vision to become a productive top-nine center at the NHL level.

His entry-level contract is a standard three-year deal with an $870,000 cap hit; he’ll probably at least start next season in Rockford to transition to the pro game.

Evan Barratt (No. 17) was a star at Penn State prior to Thursday’s signing.

Altybarmakyan, 13-character surname and all, was also a 2017 third-round pick — actually chosen 20 picks before Barratt — whose development slowed after his draft year, then leapt up again in 2019-20.

The 5-foot-11 winger finally established himself this past season with Sochi of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), tallying 17 points in 49 games. His odds of eventually cementing a role on the Hawks roster are lower than Barratt’s, but his move to North America — on a two-year deal with a $817,500 cap hit — will nonetheless help.

For Highmore and Lankinen, who both saw time up with the Hawks this past season (although Lankinen did not actually appear in a regular-season game), the news is less surprising but still notable.

Highmore was a quiet breakout in 2019-20 after missing almost all of 2018-19 recovering from shoulder surgery, cementing himself as a Hawks lineup regular from mid-December on.

Despite his unremarkable stat line of six points in 36 games, his combination of quickness and toughness made him an ideal fourth-line grinder in the new speed-focused NHL. Like Lankinen, his new contract signed Thursday is technically two-way for 2020-21, but he’s a good bet to retain a role in the NHL.

Lankinen, meanwhile, will also contend for an NHL job, although his fellow competitors are quite unclear right now.

Kevin Lankinen appeared in a few Blackhawks preseason games but mostly spent his 2019-20 season in the AHL, going 8-10-2 with a .909 save percentage.

Collin Delia, Lankinen’s counterpart in Rockford this past season, will surely be in the mix, but he’s the only certain one. Corey Crawford is no guarantee to re-sign as an unrestricted free agent; current backup Malcolm Subban may end up with the shortest Hawks career ever; Robin Lehner could theoretically be brought back as a UFA; another UFA (or two) could also be added.

In other words, Lankinen has no way of knowing whether he’ll be battling Delia for the NHL starter job, battling Delia for the vacant NHL backup job, or battling Delia and a new addition for a crowded backup job.

Still, Thursday’s re-signing means the Hawks — as expected — do see Lankinen as part of the puzzle.