The Blackhawks’ player exodus continued with fervor Monday.
Forwards Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik did not receive qualifying offers before the deadline, as had long been expected, making them unrestricted free agents come Wednesday.
It’s a decision that’ll be heavily analyzed in the years ahead. Both players are younger than 27 and can be very impactful scorers when playing well. The Hawks did try to trade them for assets at both the deadline and draft, but nothing ever materialized.
General manager Kyle Davidson’s unwillingness to even consider bringing either of them back, however, is a clear sign that tanking is the No. 1 goal for next season.
Of all of the Hawks’ potential restricted free agents, only forward Philipp Kurashev and defenseman Caleb Jones did receive qualifying offers. Both will likely be re-signed in the coming months.
AHL forwards Andrei Altybarmakyan and Cam Morrison, defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk and goalie Cale Morris were not given qualifying offers.
Meanwhile on Monday, the Hawks also began buyouts for forwards Henrik Borgstrom and Brett Connolly.
Those moves continue Davidson’s rapid shift away from ex-GM Stan Bowman’s reclamation projects and waive a white flag on Bowman’s ill-advised 2021 trade that acquired Borgstrom and Riley Stillman from the Panthers in exchange for Lucas Carlsson, Lucas Wallmark and taking Connolly’s contract.
But Borgstrom, the centerpiece, never did much of anything with the Hawks, tallying just seven points in 52 games. The Hawks could’ve buried his contract in the AHL next season to eliminate the cap hit, but instead wanted him gone altogether.
Borgstrom’s buyout will inflict the Hawks an $83,000 cap hit in 2022-23 and $183,000 cap hit in 2023-24. Connolly’s buyout will give the Hawks a $1.17 million cap hit each of the two seasons.
