Blackhawks offseason primer: What to expect from NHL draft, free agency, buyouts

It’s been two months — 65 days, to be precise — since the Chicago Blackhawks last played a game, with Frank Nazar scoring off a Connor Bedard feed to beat the Ottawa Senators in overtime. But technically speaking, the NHL offseason just started.

With a crowded roster, a jam-packed prospect pool, two first-round draft picks and more than $25 million in cap space, general manager Kyle Davidson has plenty of significant decisions to make in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Here’s a look at what to expect and when to expect it.

Friday: Buyout period begins

The buyout period begins Friday, 48 hours after the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and runs through June 30. The Blackhawks will be active at this time. It’s almost a certainty they’ll buy out defenseman T.J. Brodie, who struggled in his first Blackhawks season and was scratched for the last six weeks as younger players such as Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel cracked the lineup.

A Brodie buyout would only save the Blackhawks $516,667 on the cap next season and would cost them $258,333 on the cap in 2026-27, but the savings aren’t the point. It’s about clearing Brodie’s roster spot and doing right by a veteran who could find a more substantial role elsewhere.

Another possible buyout candidate — though far less certain — is bottom-six center Joe Veleno, acquired from the Detroit Red Wings in the Petr Mrázek trade. Buying out the last year of Veleno’s contract would save nearly $1.5 million against the cap next season, but again, it’s more about clearing roster space. The Blackhawks will be nowhere near the cap.

There’s no urgency to part ways with Veleno, but the more active the team is in free agency and trades, the more likely a Veleno buyout would become.

Late June/early July: 2025-26 schedule release

Typically, the following season’s schedule comes out between the Stanley Cup Final and the opening of free agency, though last year’s came on July 2. The two most interesting dates for the Blackhawks will be the first time Joel Quenneville comes to the United Center as head coach of the Anaheim Ducks and the first time Jonathan Toews plays in Chicago as a visitor with whichever team signs him this summer.

At some point this summer, the Blackhawks will unveil their full centennial celebration schedule, as well.

Now through July 1: Contract extensions

The Blackhawks took care of their biggest pending unrestricted free agent Wednesday by re-signing Ryan Donato to a four-year extension with a $4 million cap hit. The Blackhawks added a year of term from their original offer at the trade deadline.

It was the easiest and probably most cost-effective way of ensuring they have another top-six-caliber forward on next season’s roster. There aren’t a ton of those players in this year’s free-agent class, and they won’t come cheap with the cap increasing.

Donato was second only to John Tavares in goals last season among pending free agents. Trading for that type of player also isn’t easy, especially when the Blackhawks mainly have draft capital to give up in exchange.

As for the team’s pending restricted free agents, the Blackhawks are expected to qualify Louis Crevier, Wyatt Kaiser and Arvid Söderblom and are not expected to qualify the others, including, most notably, Philipp Kurashev.

June 27-28: NHL Entry Draft

The Blackhawks enter this year’s draft with 10 selections. They have two first-round picks (third and 25th overall), two second-round picks (34th and 62nd), one third-round pick (66th), two fourth-round picks (98th and 107th), one sixth-round pick (162nd) and two seventh-round picks (194th and 197th).

With the No. 3 pick, the Blackhawks have their sights on a forward. If Michael Misa is somehow bypassed after the first two picks, the Blackhawks would be happy to take him. That’s unlikely, though. Instead, the Blackhawks are likely to draft Caleb Desnoyers, Anton Frondell or Porter Martone. All have different strengths, but each has some size and could complement Bedard or Nazar on a line.

Davidson has said for a while, too, that he’s open to trading the third-overall selection or any of his draft picks. The challenge with doing that and acquiring proven NHL players is that most teams are also looking for established players in exchange. There aren’t many teams firmly in a rebuild. Most general managers feel like they’re a win-now model and are seeking talent for talent.

The Blackhawks’ veterans probably aren’t that desirable, and Davidson likely isn’t ready to part with any of his own prospects. That said, the Blackhawks could move Lukas Reichel and/or Connor Murphy if a team sought either. Murphy might be more likely as a trade deadline move.

July 1: Free agency opens

It was only a few months ago that Blackhawks fans — and perhaps Davidson himself — were dreaming of Mitch Marner in red alongside Bedard on the top line. That’s a whole lot less likely now.

The soaring salary cap has created many more viable suitors for Marner, who’s expected to leave the Toronto Maple Leafs, and most of them will be far more attractive for a player in his prime than the Blackhawks, who are still years off from contending.

That fact, combined with the strong play of the youth-infused Blackhawks down the stretch — Chicago closed on a modest but encouraging 3-1-1 kick and looked a heck of a lot faster doing it — has put “patience” back into their vocabulary. Donato might just be the Blackhawks’ biggest offseason signing.

So it’s unlikely Davidson will pursue Marner or even the Florida Panthers’ Sam Bennett, Winnipeg Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers or Vancouver Canucks’ Brock Boeser. We also shouldn’t expect another second-tier spending spree like last summer, when Davidson brought in Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teräväinen, Pat Maroon, Craig Smith and Brodie. The future has arrived in Chicago, and any improvement will have to come from within.

That doesn’t mean Davidson won’t sign anybody at all. But Chicago already has veterans up front in Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson, Ilya Mikheyev, Bertuzzi and Teräväinen. Murphy brings leadership and reliability to a young but tantalizing blue line. There might be room for another bruiser like Maroon or one more depth defender, but it probably won’t be a terribly exciting July 1 for Blackhawks fans.

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