NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Kyle Davidson wasted little time getting pen to paper after acquiring Nick Foligno.
The Blackhawks general manager inked Foligno to a one-year contract with a $4 million salary-cap hit Tuesday, one day after acquiring his free-agent rights from the Bruins in the Taylor Hall trade.
It’s probably an overpay on the 35-year-old veteran forward, but the Hawks could afford to do that. They actually probably needed to do that to persuade Foligno, in the latter stages of his career, to stick around on a team with no playoff aspirations next season.
Foligno has slowed down from his heyday as Blue Jackets captain, but his personality hasn’t changed and he also remains a smart, reliable player — particularly in his defensive zone.
He tallied 26 points (10 goals and 16 assists) in 60 games with the Bruins last season while averaging 12:22 of ice time per game. Opponents generated only 25.7 scoring chances per 60 minutes during Foligno’s five-on-five shifts, ranking him fourth-best among Bruins forwards and better than anyone on the Hawks.
Davidson raved about the leadership Foligno will provide. The contrast between that and Davidson’s justifications for not bringing back Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews is interesting, but he probably believes Foligno will offer guidance but not necessitate the same immense level of deference that Kane and Toews did.
“Whatever young players end up on our team next year — [and] there’s going to be some spots open for young players — they’re going to be in an environment where they’ll have some great mentorship and leadership in that room,” he said.
Defensive decisions
The Hawks will give forward Philipp Kurashev a qualifying offer, preserving his restricted-free-agent rights, agent Pat Brisson confirmed Tuesday. But it doesn’t sound like defenseman Caleb Jones will receive a qualifying offer.
With Jones therefore likely to move on and Alec Regula and Ian Mitchell having been traded, the Hawks’ short-term defensive depth chart looks a little shallow — particularly on the right side with only Seth Jones, Connor Murphy and Nikita Zaitsev. That could be an area Davidson addresses this week.
“It’s something we’ve certainly considered, giving some of our left-shot defensemen the opportunity to play the other side,” Davidson said. “We’ll see how that plays out, but there’s some opportunity there.
“[I’m] also not ruling out going out and perhaps picking up a right-shot ‘D’ in free agency, but [that’s] nothing we’re going to chase. [There are a] couple of different options.”
Draft prep
Connor Bedard stuck to his favorite “wait and see” line again Tuesday in regards to the Blackhawks picking him No. 1, but the realization that moment will finally come Wednesday seemed to sink in.
“Me and [fellow top prospect Nate] Danielson were talking, I don’t think we’re going to sleep at all tonight,” Bedard said. “We’ll probably be pretty wound up. It’s just super exciting how close it is, and to be here with friends and family. It’s hard to have words for it.”
Davidson said the Hawks will hold off on officially declaring their first pick until they walk on stage Wednesday in order to “respect the function of the draft and the ceremony of the draft.”
The No. 19 pick, meanwhile, will be highly unclear until the Jets announce the No. 18 pick. But the Hawks have prepared for all possible scenarios for how other teams could act and have become “really comfortable” with their prospect rankings, Davidson said.
