Chicago Blackhawks Sign Michal Kempny To A One Year Extension

The Chicago Blackhawks signed defenseman Michal Kempny to a one year extension on Saturday morning, so it looks like he will be one of the Big 6 for next season. 

Michal Kempny in my opinion should have been one of the 6 defenseman playing the entire time for the Chicago Blackhawks especially in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the trade for Johnny Oduya at the trade deadline basically gave Kempny a permanent seat in the press box for the rest of the season and the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It’s not like Kempny filled up the stat sheet while he was out there in his rookie campaign, but he was a good puck moving defenseman that fits in well with the current Chicago Blackhawks defensive core and the way they play the game.

The thinking is that both Marcus Kruger and Trevor van Riemsdyk will be gone one way or another during the expansion draft, so this signing of Kempny makes sense moving forward towards the 2017-2018 Chicago Blackhawks season.

If TVR is really gone, the Hawks will have to rely heavily on either Kempny or Gustav Forsling who both had seen action this past year and were expected to grow into reliable defenseman, but both of their growths were stunted by the Oduya transaction, and Joel Quenneville never really believing in them.

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Of course, there is the old saying the Coach Q doesn’t like kids, but you can tell he’s a little more forgiving if you are an offensive talent rather than a young defenseman coming up in the organization.  Look at all the prospects that have received a token shot in Chicago only to be part of other deals and no longer with the franchise.

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Stan Bowman has a pretty good eye for offensive talent, but the scouting staff really needs to crank it up when finding the next core of Chicago Blackhawks defensive talent because this core is starting to have a lot of tread on the tires.

The Hawks have Kempny for one more year for the time being, so what do you think of this contract extension?