Chicago Blackhawks’ Brian Campbell Should Return To Team In October

One member of the 2016-17 Chicago Blackhawks who is not signed for next season could be worth another look

With the Chicago Blackhawks rumor mill churning up Marian Hossa’s contract to the Carolina Hurricanes for Trevor van Riemsdyk, I decided to go in a different direction.

Let’s assume the Blackhawks do not trade Hossa’s contract, a prospect and a draft pick for TVR. Let’s assume the ’Hawks place Hossa on long-term injured reserve when the season begins.

With Hossa being placed on LTIR, the ’Hawks could have close to $4 million in extra cap space to play with. With that extra money to spend, the ’Hawks would have money to spend after the season started.

While everyone keeps making this statement, who would be available in October for the ’Hawks to sign? I know of one player who might be waiting to sign with the Hawks in October. That player is Brian Campbell.

The ’Hawks could sign Campbell to a new team friendly deal. He could sign a deal similar to the one he signed last season.

Campbell wants to play only for the Blackhawks

Campbell has been outspoken since the Blackhawks Convention last year that he wants to play with the ’Hawks moving forward, otherwise he would retire.  He turned down big money from the Florida Panthers and other teams to sign with the Blackhawks last season. He said he would take one-year deals until he retired.

I would also love like to point out that Campbell was at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft signing autographs in Chicago. This states to me that is still on good terms with the organization.

Currently Campbell is not employed by the Blackhawks because of their salary cap situation.

The Blackhawks still need him

My theory about Campbell hinges on the idea that the Blackhawks need another veteran defenseman on their roster. Nobody should be comfortable with Jan Rutta and Michal Kempny playing top-four minutes.

Kempny has 50 NHL regular-season games to his credit, and Rutta has yet to play an NHL game. This scares me. If people thought the Hawks blue line was bad last season, can you imagine Kempny and Rutta playing 82 games next season? I do not want to witness that scenario.

Despite the fact that Campbell is not my favorite player, he can still play.

So my theory is that Campbell returns to the Blackhawks in October.