Hawks Offseason Preview
A look at what Kyle Davidson has on his plate for the Hawks offseason. The NHL Draft, possible resigning's, and free agency sprinkled with incompetent takes.
TLDR: Draft is hard to mess up. Best case is Celebrini, worst case is a solid prospect with a high ceiling. Couple of RFA’s get signed (Reichel, Phillips, maybe Crevier). One UFA signed (Blackwell). Free-agency will be underwhelming, expect someone who can play on a first line (Marchessault) and a solid veteran defenseman (…Tanev… don’t kill me).
Last summer was easy for Kyle Davidson. Too easy. Luck went our way and placed Connor Bedard in Chicago. There was no pressure to sign free agents. If you sucked air and had a pulse, you had Davidson’s attention. Bedard mania consumed Hawks’ fans and distracted them from the reality of a rebuild that had barely started.
It’s different this summer.
The pressure is going to start turning on. But only a little. It’ll be hard to botch this year’s draft with a guaranteed top-4 pick and 6 others in the first 3 rounds. On the free agency side of things, the market isn’t looking too hot right now, and this was a market that Davidson showed zero interest in until that blurb we got during his exit interview.
Sure, Davidson says he’s tired of losing, but is he? And let’s not be foolish. No matter who Davidson adds to this team, things won’t magically change. Rebuilding is a process. The young core is still developing. The ones that have arrived at the NHL level still need to develop. The prospects who are still in junior hockey or the AHL still have years to go.
Then there’s Luke Richardson. He’ll play a pretty big role in this too. Is he the coach for the long term or is he just the coach for this transition period? Can he develop young players and can those young players adjust to his system (which is simple hockey) and be competitive next year?
In this post, I’ll take a look at what this offseason looks like for the Hawks. I won’t dive too deep into the draft as we still need to get through the lottery, but I’ll look at some players who fall within that 1-4 draft pick area. I’ll dive a bit into any realistic free agents worth signing and if any of the Hawks’ current UFAs/RFAs are worth bringing back.
This isn’t a huge summer, but it’s an important one. It’s step 1 of building things.
The Draft Lottery
It’s not worth looking at the draft in detail until we know where the Hawks land in the lottery. Come May 7th we’ll find out where the Hawks end up picking.
Because of that, a lot of what Davidson can do depends on the lottery. Landing the No. 1 spot gets you an NHL-ready prospect in Macklin Celebrini. Picking anywhere from 2-4 gets you a very promising prospect who will still need to develop in their respective league.
Celebrini
Macklin Celebrini is this year’s consensus no. 1 pick. And this kid is good. Celebrini would give Davidson his no. 2 center. The impact here is that it would be on the rest of the rookies the Hawks drafted as centers, as pointed out by Scott Powers. Granted, they all still need to prove their salt.
With that being said, centers can move to the wing, so it’s not really a concern. With Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore, Ryan Greene, Martian Misiak, and Paul Ludwinski, you have yourself a decent young core of potential NHL centers. And that’s a big emphasis on potential because they’re all still early in development.
Rolling into next season, Bedard, Celebrini, and Nazar would be your centers. From there you get decent wingers with talent for those three lines.
Levshunov
Artyom Levshunov is a player that has my interest because of his size and speed. He’s also a right-handed defenseman, and the Hawks would love to add a prospect RHD to their heavy LHD core. Keep in mind, Davidson did say he’s interested in drafting the most talented player first, and not a player to fill a specific position.
The 6’ 2’’ and 210lbs defenseman from Belarus just finished his freshman year with Michigan State as an 18-year-old. What surprises scouts and coaches isn’t just the fact that he looks like a massive wildebeest on skates, it’s that he skates with elegance which makes him an absolute threat in the OZ.
For the Hawks, we have Seth Jones locked up on the right side thanks to Bowman. Sam Rinzel is a young promising prospect on the right side, but time will tell if he’s an NHL piece. He also just won Minnesota’s Rookie of the Year.
I am not saying he’s a consensus no. 2. If Davidson and his team think there are other more talented players, they’ll draft him. I just like this kid. (Que Faxes From Uncle Dale’s prospect perverts)
Demidov
Uh-oh… a Russian prospect? Didn’t we see what happened with Matvei Michkov?
Relax. Ivan Demidov only has 1 year left on his KHL contract and the rumors are that he’s looking to play in North America as soon as he can. It doesn't dispel all the uncertainty that comes with Russian prospects, but it’s a reassurance.
Demidov is a 5’ 11’’, 181lb right winger who’s spent most of his time in the MHL, which is the Russian junior league. He’s a highly skilled winger with impressive puck skills but needs improvement with his skating.
The Hawks need highly skilled forwards beyond Bedard. Frank Nazar is looking promising so far. All the other forward prospects are still big maybe’s. Demidov would help in that department as he’s almost a sure thing. He’s also a pass-first winger, which would complement Bedard quite nicely.
Who Goes 4?
From here on, it could be any of the touted prospects. Below are some names I would consider but I’m not married to any of them. Except for Yakemchuk and that’s only because he crushed it in a recent EHM run when I drafted him (video game stuff…).
Carter Yakemchuk - D
Cole Eiserman - LW
Cayden Lindstrom - C (only because the r/hawks circle-jerking is getting to me)
The UFA’s and RFA’s
With Davidson locking up pending UFA’s Petr Mrazek, Nick Foligno, and Jason Dickinson with overpaid contracts (as intended), don’t expect any other UFA to resign.
Tyler Johnson made it clear in his exit interview that he’s done playing on this team. Even if he wanted to stick around I don’t see anything worthwhile from him. Colin Blackwell expressed his desire to stay with the team and I can maybe see him get resigned. He had an impressive comeback from his injury this past season and he fits somewhere down on the 4th line.
I don’t see Nikita Zaitsev getting resigned. Jarred Tinordi should not get resigned and I hope he doesn’t. Jaycob Megna also doesn’t have an argument for staying with the Hawks. Rem Pitlick and Luke Philp are most likely let go. Brett Seney, Mike Hardman, and Cole Guttman would only make sense for depth, but I’m not surprised if they go. Yes, even Guttman.
So out of all the UFA’s, the only one that makes sense is Blackwell, and that’s a maybe. Hardman, Guttman, and Seney are options for depth and to help out our IceHog brethren.
For the RFA’s, Alex Vlasic’s contract is already handled and dealt with. MacKenzie Entwistle, Reese Johnson, Taylor Raddysh, Filip Roos, and Michal Teply will probably be let go. Raddysh had quite the regression to the mean of a season. Good luck. Isaak Philips will get an offer (just me speculating). Louis Crevier probably gets an offer. Jaxson Stauber is only tempting because of the failed Soderblom season (yeah, yeah, I know. Soderblom is still a young goalie).
Then there’s Lukas Reichel. He shot himself in the foot with his wet fart of a season. He most likely gets a very cheap bridge deal for 2 years. This helps Davidson out because if Reichel does pan out, we have him for cheap.
Free Agents
Upfront, I’m notoriously terrible with free-agency speculation. The below are just my collected thoughts after reading and taking in various articles and message boards. Don’t take this stuff too seriously.
Davidson doesn’t have a whole lot of options for free agents this summer. Ideally, we’ll want someone who can add talent to our forwards. With Taylor Hall returning, we have to hope he can play healthy and we don’t want Bedard without a talented forward. I think it’s worth signing a free agent who can play with and fit Bedard’s playing style. There’s just not that many options.
Scott Power thinks whoever is signed it’ll be a short-term deal with an expensive price tag. Davidson also has to consider the future contracts of Bedard, Nazar, Korchinski, and others.
I plan on going into more depth when free agency roles around, as playoffs will probably dictate some of the pending UFA’s.
Jonathan Marchessault
Probably the most realistic. He’s a 1st liner who could play with Bedard. At 33 he currently has a $5mil caphit with Vegas and would probably get an overpay to play with Chicago.
Teuvo Teravainen
What Hawks fan doesn’t want to see Teuvo wear a Hawks sweater again? He can play on the first line with Bedard and Hall (if he’s healthy) and be an added threat that would take away the pressure from Bedard.
Patrick Kane
This isn’t a joke. And no. I am not in any way, shape, or form expecting a move to be made on Kane.
We all know that Davidson made it very clear that Kane isn’t coming back. That was last season. Even though Elliot Friedman said to hold off on speculation around Kanes cryptic tweet, it looks like he might be done in Detroit. Showtime wants stability.
Can you imagine 88 creating dangerous plays for 98?
Honorable Maybes:
Sam Reinhart - He’s going to go for big money and term.
Jake Guentzel - Carolina is looking like a good home for him.
Tyler Bertuzzi - He’s physical, but I don’t think he fits what the Hawks need.
Anthony Mantha - Slow and not a first liner
Daniel Sprong - He’s an interesting look. Not that he plays with Bedard.
Tyler Toffoli - Fools gold. He’s slow and even though he’s a goal scorer, the Hawks would be better off looking elsewhere.
Jake DeBrusk - Man, I would love him here. However, DeBrusk will look for term.
For the Defensemen, although there isn’t a whole lot of room, there is a need for a veteran defenseman to play with the rookies. Connor Murphy will be back, but I don’t like him playing with Korchinski. He makes too many mistakes and people tend to confuse his puck-blocking ability for all-around defensive skill.
Chris Tanev
For the defensemen, Tanev is my only pick that I would love to see. At 34 he might be open to a short-term contract with the Hawks. Depending on where the Stars finish, they might want his spot for one of their younger guys in the pipeline. Tanev would be a great partner for Korchinski.
Honorable Maybes:
Alec Martinez - At 36 he might take a short-term deal for a lot of money. I think he would fit nicely with our young D.
Ian Cole - Cole is 35 and would get an inexpensive short-term deal.
End Thoughts
So there you have it. The Hawks have a draft to help the rebuild and a pretty mild free agency class to work with. It’s not a huge summer but whatever decisions Davidson makes have to be smart and calculated. I’m sure regardless of who he signs (or doesn’t sign) the armchair GM’s will crawl out of the woodwork and be legitimately upset.
