Offseason Review: Chicago Blackhawks

Now that the dust has settled on a wild NHL offseason, let's take a look at how each team did in regards to drafting and free-agent signings. Today, we'll look at the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chicago had the NHL equivalent of a mid-life crisis this summer. To be fair, the team had some success last season despite the loss of captain Jonathan Toews to an immune response disorder from which he is still not fully recovered. Clearly seeing the opportunity for another Cup run before his dynasty stars enter their twilight years, GM Stan Bowman pulled out all the stops, bringing in every star he could get his hands on in hopes of pushing the Hawks over the hump one last time. As assault and misconduct allegations swirled around the team's front office, let's see how the Hawks made out this summer.

Free Agency:

Obviously, it's more about the trades than the free-agent signings in Chicago this year. First, Duncan Keith was sent to the Oilers along with prospect Tim Soderlund for Caleb Jones and a 3rd-round pick. This move was just the appetizer for the main course, clearing cap space for a massive deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets that swapped Adam Boqvist, two 1st-round picks, and one 2nd-round pick for Seth Jones, Tampa Bay's 2021 1st-round pick (dealt to Columbus for David Savard), and a 6th-round pick in 2022. The Hawks followed up by obliterating the market for defenceman by signing Seth to an 8-year deal worth $9.5 million AAV. Somehow, the Hawks managed to use two trades with Columbus and Edmonton to then completely mess up those team's plans when it came to signing their top DMen. Both the Jackets' Zach Werenski and the Oilers' Darnell Nurse signed deals with very similar AAV in the following weeks. Those teams can thank Stan Bowman for that.

Then, as if they hadn't set the league on fire enough, the Hawks picked up the reigning Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury from Vegas for...nothing. Not actually nothing, in exchange Vegas received centreman Mikael Hakkarainen, a 5th-round pick of Chicago's from 2018 who has scored exactly 0 points in 14 AHL games. That's it, a 1-for-1 deal the likes of which the NHL has never seen before. Oh, and to top it off, Fleury found out he'd been traded through Twitter. Ouch.

The Hawks then shipped Brent Seabrook to Tampa Bay in exchange for Tyler Johnson and a 2nd-round pick, and re-signed Adam Gaudette for one year. They picked up depth centreman Jujhar Khaira for two years at $950k, and signed defenceman Jake McCabe to a four-year contract. They let one of their top rookies from last season Pius Suter walk to eventually sign with Detroit, and lost Vinne Hinostroza, Brandon Pirri, Anton Lindholm, and Zack Smith to unrestricted free agency. They wrapped up by extending Mike Hardman and Brandon Hagel, to two- and three-year deals respectively.

Grade: A-; What do you even say about this? The Hawks are clearly ready to sacrifice their future for one more win right now, and this offseason followed that benchmark. Is this a better Hawks team? Unquestionably. This is also a team staring down the barrel of a cap nightmare.

Draft:

The Hawks were due to pick 12th overall in this year's draft, but they traded that spot to Colombus in the Jones deal, receiving instead the 32nd overall pick. With it, they chose Nolan Allan, a defensive defenceman who already skates at an NHL level. He's not going to fill up the scorecard but Allan plays a stifling and efficient shutdown game that any team can appreciate.

At 62nd overall the Hawks picked Colton Dach, the brother of Hawks prospect Kirby Dach, who was chosen 3rd overall by Chicago two years ago. Colton doesn't have the same elite hockey sense or playmaking ability as his older brother, but he still possesses the same massive stature, standing 6'4" tall, and has a strong shot to go with his physical presence. At 91st overall the Hawks chose Taige Harding, a massive 6'7", 235lb defenceman who earns the distinction of being one of a select few NHLers to have a UK citizenship, although he spent most of his time growing up in Canada. Harding played for the Fort MacMurray Oil Barons last season, scoring 5 goals and 13 points in 16 games, more than doubling his production for the Barons from the previous season, despite playing 30 games less.

Grade: B-; The Hawks mortgaged this year's Draft in favor of playing for another Stanley Cup, and it shows in the prospect pool they came away with. While the reunion of the Dach brothers is a nice story, none of these players project to be game-breakers. That said, if Taige Harding rounds into form, he could be a force in the NHL down the road.

Overall grade: B; The Hawks re-united two pairs of brothers this summer while positioning themselves for another one or two Cup runs in the coming years. Whatever happens after that clearly isn't what Stan Bowman is worried about right now.

What do you think about Chicago's ridiculous offseason?

Photo credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports