3 Big Offer Sheet Possibilities for Blackhawks This Summer

The Chicago Blackhawks are in dire need of making a huge statement this offseason. They're ready to ramp up their rebuild by adding some big-name free agents—both of the UFA and RFA kind.

The team will have well over $30 million in cap space, and while it might be unlikely that a big-name UFA like Mitch Marner, Sam Bennett or Brock Boeser would join a team so far away from contention, the same can't be said for some younger players of the restricted free agent variety. Some might be happy to take the Blackhawks' money and grow with the team.

With that, we present a list of three potential big offer sheet possibilities for Chicago this summer:

JJ Peterka, Buffalo Sabres

His name is amongst the most prominent of those RFAs that experts around the league feel could be poached this offseason. We heard from insider Frank Seravalli last month that Peterka might not be too thrilled with the situation in Buffalo and may find his way out of town. With back-to-back 20+ goal seasons and a career-high 60 points thus far this year, it'll certainly take well over a $5M AAV, even up into the mid-high $6Ms. Chicago does have the compensation needed, in its own 1st and 3rd round picks for 2026. They also have another first (Florida's from the Seth Jones trade) to keep themselves in the first round.

Marco Rossi

The Minnesota Wild have not been able to make any traction just yet on extension talks with key young forward Marco Rossi. In fact, a report by insider Elliotte Friedman not too long ago referred to the 'percentage of cap' tactic as getting in the way of some negotiations:

"One exec said last week that negotiations with a solid, appreciated player on his team — but not one of their top guys — halted because this tactic took things where the organization wouldn’t go." At least one observer of the Wild feels that he was talking about Minnesota and Rossi, as GM Bill Guerin had said around the same time, "I don't care about percentage of cap... We've got our own internal structure. We feel players are worth a certain thing."

With no deal in sight, it's certainly possible the Hawks could swoop in and steal Rossi, now a back-to-back 20+ goal scorer, from their division rival.

Mavrik Bourque, Dallas Stars

On the cheaper end of the spectrum, to entice Bourque, an offer sheet would likely fall into the category of a deal in the $2M to $3M AAV, which would cost a second-rounder: The Hawks have no less than three of those in the '26 Draft, so plenty to spare.

Bourque has been a strong contributor in a full-time role with the Stars this season as a fourth-liner, but with such a deep roster on the Stanley Cup contender, he's a bit limited right now in just how much he can expand his game going forward in Dallas. The Blackhawks would give him that opportunity.