NHL free agency: Previewing the Blackhawks’ potential activity

Former Islanders forward Anders Lee is the biggest-name free agent the Blackhawks are targeting.

Once seemingly destined to be one of the NHL’s most active teams on hallowed July 1st — the first day free agents can sign with new teams — the Blackhawks are now likely to play a quieter role.

Three trades in recent weeks — acquiring Calvin de Haan from the Hurricanes, Olli Maatta from the Penguins and John Quenneville from the Devils — have sorted out much of the Hawks’ offseason roster shuffle earlier than expected.

The Hawks should still make a few signings Monday afternoon, though.

Forwards

The Hawks incredibly own only five forwards on one-way contracts right now, although Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome functionally are too.

A massive entourage of players on two-way deals will compete for jobs — Quenneville, Dylan Sikura, Dominik Kubalik, Anton Wedin, Alexandre Fortin, Jacob Nilsson, etc. — but Stan Bowman is clearly planning to sign a few more forwards, targeting penalty kill and faceoff specialists in particular.

Internal free agents: Perlini is an RFA and the Hawks have already been negotiating with his agent — he’s projected for a $2 million cap hit, per Evolving Wild.

David Kampf was oddly not given a qualifying offer, but may well still be re-signed.

Marcus Kruger and Chris Kunitz, along with a number of UFA minor-leaguers, likely aren’t returning.

UFA targets: The Hawks aren’t batting an eye at the elite Artemi Panarin-esque tier, but they’ve been linked to some second-tier forwards, like veteran wingers Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry.

Anders Lee might be the best bet if the Hawks to make a splash. The soon-to-be 29-year-old has tallied 34, 40 and 28 goals the past three years, respectively. His contract projection is a hefty seven years at $6.5 million per.

Splash or not, however, the team will definitely bring in one or two new bottom-six grinders.

Brandon Tanev, Joonas Donskoi and Colin Wilson are options if Bowman is willing to push towards the $3 million range.

Ryan Hartman and Richard Panik could be brought back to Chicago again.

Three former Knights role players — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Tomas Nosek and Ryan Carpenter — are worth looks.

Other cheap UFA forwards with solid faceoff or penalty killing results include Riley Sheahan, Eric Fehr, Markus Granlund, Noel Acciari and Greg McKegg.

Trade possibilities: Bowman has indicated, both verbally and with his three trades already, that he might be more keen to upgrade via trades than free agency this summer.

Bottom-six forwards are so plentiful and relatively easily acquirable that the possibilities are widespread.

Ryan Hartman was dealt away at the 2018 trade deadline, but is now a UFA who could fit the Blackhawks’ current needs.

Defensemen

Maatta and de Haan probably complete the Hawks’ defensive group entering 2019-20. The Hawks now have a whopping eight defensemen on one-way deals (plus Henri Jokiharju), so there will be lots of competition in September.

Internal free agents: Blake Hillman wasn’t qualified and will likely sign elsewhere. AHL vets Brandon Davidson and Andrew Campbell are also UFAs.

UFA targets: The Hawks were once considered a favorite to land Jake Gardiner, the best player remaining in a very shallow UFA defenseman pool, but they’re presumably out of the market entirely now.

Trade possibilities: If any more changes happen to the D group, it’ll be through trades. Of the nine players in contention for NHL roster spots, only three — Brent Seabrook, Connor Murphy and Jokiharju — are right-handed. That’s an imbalance that could be addressed by trade.

Former Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner was linked to the Blackhawks weeks ago, but not since the Maatta and de Haan acquisitions.

Goaltenders

Corey Crawford and Colin Delia have nailed down the two NHL jobs, although the Hawks could look at adding a depth goalie with some experience in case Crawford gets hurt again.

Internal free agents: Cam Ward is unlikely to return.

UFA targets: If the Hawks want someone to really contend for an NHL job, it could be Keith Kinkaid. If they want a purely AHL starter to supplement prospect Kevin Lankinen, it could be Edward Pasquale. In the middle are the likes of Anthony Stolarz and Calvin Pickard.

Trade possibilities: Unless it’s a minor-league or prospect swap, the goaltending need isn’t pressing enough for a trade.