Blackhawks: Reacting to the reported signing of Wyatt Kalynuk

The Chicago Blackhawks went out and added another young defenseman who can help make this team better a year or two down the line, Wyatt Kalynuk.

Wyatt Kalynuk, who has been with the University of Wisconsin for the past three years, is a reliable defenseman ready to make the jump to the professional leagues sooner rather than later. It has been reported by Mark Lazerus of The Athletic that the Chicago Blackhawks will sign the young defensemen within the next few days.

I think this is great for the Blackhawks as it allows for the team to look down the line and try and make themselves better now. Kalynuk, who was originally drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, is similar to Ian Mitchell in the idea that his rights were up with his original team. Imagine if the Blackhawks did not sign Mitchell before July 1st, that would be the type of player we just brought in in Kalynuk.

Kalynuk has been a reliable leader in Wisconsin, and he has skill with the puck. While we do not know if he will end up in the NHL or AHL next season one thing is for sure. The Blackhawks are adding more depth right now, which does not hurt this team in the long run.

This signing has a similar feeling to when the Blackhawks signed Dominik Kubalik last season. Not many people talked about it then all of a sudden he became an NHL regular. Who knows, maybe we will see something similar again.

The one player I do kind of feel for in this situation is Ian Mitchell. Mitchell has been looked at as the Blackhawks guy for a long time, then all of a sudden after signing him Bowman goes out and also brings in another guy at a similar age with the same position and offensive talent. Obviously we the fans love to see talent and depth, but Mitchell might take this as someone getting in the way.

Chicago is making their defensive younger, and I like that. However, the only way to really change it would be to subtract some of the other names on this blue line like Seabrook, de Haan, and Maatta.