Blackhawks: Simulating Five Years in the Future Using NHL 21

Today I thought it might be fun to sim five years into the future in NHL 21 to see how the Chicago Blackhawks look five years from now.

I used to do this all time whenever I was watching the Blackhawks play. I would simulate the game using the latest EA NHL Game to see how the Chicago Blackhawks would do that night. While it rarely worked it was still fun to add that element to the game.

If the Blackhawks end up not coming back to play until October of 2021 then I think we will be talking about video games a lot more in the future. So here is hoping the NHL does have a season starting in the next few months.

If you are not into video games that is alright as this is just giving us a picture of where the roster can be in five years as well as if the team will have any success. Five years is a long time, so I figure we should establish some rules.

The Rules:

Rule 1: I am just simulating the games (Not playing in any of the matchups)

Rule 2: Trades will only be accepted based on what is offered to us (No Offering Trades Throughout the Season)

Rule 3: Allowed to sign at most four free agents during the offseason each year

Rule 4: Any player can go on the trade block (there are no no-movement clauses)

Side Note: I had to manually add Pius Suter and Ian Mitchell to the game. I did not make them too overrated just at around a 77 overall so that they could be on the team. Suter is similar to Kubalik last year and Mitchell is similar to Boqvist last season.

2020-21 Season – (Year 1)

Offseason moves to begin the year:

Dylan Strome signed a three-year contract worth: 4.075 million
Chicago sent Zack Smith and three draft picks to Carolina for a third-round pick in 2022

Regular Season Record: 40-32-10
Playoff Finish: Missed
Stanley Cup Champion: Edmonton Oilers
Award Winners: Pius Suter (Calder Trophy)
Point Leaders: Goals (Kane 39) Assists (Kane/Toews 49) Points (Kane 88)

Notes:

Jaroslav Halak stole the Blackhawks net and won Chicago 23 games throughout the season, however, he was not perfect considering he had an average of seven goals against per game. Subban backed him up and played in 21 games.

Going into the trade deadline Chicago looked poised as ever to make the playoffs in this simulation in large part thanks to big years from Toews and Kane. Kane had 75 points in 63 games so far this season and Toews had 43 assists at that time.

At the trade deadline, Chicago sent Alex Nylander packing to Dallas for a first-round pick in 2021 and a third in 2022. Nylander was going to ask for too much during the offseason due to it being a video game and them thinking Nylander is a top tier prospect.

Honestly, Chicago made it very close to making the playoffs with 90 points missing by just four. Similar to 2019, Chicago was good, just not good enough. I was worried the simulation would put them in the playoffs on the first season, which would not have looked good.

Key Trades:

Chicago sent De Haan, Pirri, and a Fourth Round Pick to Boston For F Zack Senyshyn and G Jaroslav Halak
Chicago traded Shaw, Carpenter, and a Third-Round Pick in 2022 to Anaheim for Brayden Tracey and a Third-Round Pick in 2022

Notable Contracts:

Nikita Zadorov signed for five years at 2.4 million
Lucas Wallmark signed for two years at 1.575 million
Pius Suter signed for two years at 5 million

2021-22 Season – (Year 2)

Offseason moves to begin the year:

Chicago started the season with two first-round draft picks and added a center and a left-winger with the picks. That offseason they signed both of their first-round draft picks to contracts.

Zach Senyshyn was signed for three years at 1.5 million
David Kampf was signed for four years at 1.5 million
Nick Seeler was not re-signed and was released to free agency

Shesterkin was an RFA in New York and Chicago offered him a contract which the Rangers were unwilling to sign. Shesterkin is now on a 5 year 5.05 million dollar contract with Chicago.

Ryan Strome joined the Blackhawks to play with brother Dylan on a two-year contract worth 5.55 million

Chicago traded Brent Seabrook to the New Jersey Devils with a second-round pick for New Jersey’s fourth and fifth in 2022.

Regular Season Record: 46-30-6 (Wild Card Team 1)
Playoff Finish: Stanley Cup Finals Loss
Stanley Cup Champion: Carolina Hurricanes
Award Winners: None In Chicago
Point Leaders: Goals (Kane 34) Assists (Kane 44) Points (Kane 78)

Notes:

This previous offseason really fixed the team with Chicago adding Igor Shesterkin a 25-year-old netminder that is now the apparent starter for the future. Plus the addition of Ryan Strome bolstered the top six greatly.

The Seabrook contract really is hindering the Blackhawks even in year two. With Boqvist and Dach both on expiring contracts at the end of the season that money would be great for those two. Getting Seabrook off of the payroll definitely is necessary for this team to bounce back. Chicago’s lineup consists of two many star players with Toews and Kane around to fully rebuild.

Even with Mitchell and Boqvist taking on big roles on the defense, they still needed more depth at the position at the NHL level. Dallas offered Jake McCabe for a second and sixth-round pick. McCabe was on a two-year contract at 2.23 million at the time of the trade.

With the young players like Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Strome, and Kirby Dach all stepping up on the ice Jonathan Toews’s morale dropped greatly due to a decrease in ice time. Toews was untradeable at the deadline even though he was on the block.

No deadline deals were worked out for the Blackhawks this season, even though Chicago was trying to actually buy this year. Even still, Chicago snuck into the playoffs as the first wildcard team.

Shockingly enough Chicago took a run to the Stanley Cup Finals after getting past the Vegas Golden Knights in six games, the Anaheim Ducks in seven games, and the Minnesota Wild in five games. Chicago fell short of the cup losing in game six to the Hurricanes. Alex DeBrincat led Chicago with 10 goals and 15 assists throughout the playoffs.

Notable Contracts:

Chicago re-signed Adam Boqvist for eight years at 9.95 million a season
Chicago re-signed Kirby Dach for eight years at 5.9 million
Chicago re-signed Connor Murphy for one year at 1.5 million

2022-23 Season – (Year 3)

Offseason moves to begin the year:

Alright, the offseason going into this season featured a lot of key players of this team now available to negotiate new contracts. Here are the players available to get a new contract: Kane, Debrincat, Strome, Toews, Keith, Beaudin, Suter, and Mitchell. A lot of these players actually will be coming off of their real contracts at this time.

The players signed right away: Kane (three years at 10.05 million) DeBrincat (three years at 9.1) Strome (two years at 9.3 million)

Regular Season Record: 43-30-9
Playoff Finish: First Round
Stanley Cup Champion: New York Rangers
Award Winners: None
Point Leaders: Goals (Kane 33) Assists (Strome 60) Points (Strome 86)

Notes: 

Going into January the Blackhawks had a 19-12-5 record and were in a wildcard spot. While things could be going better for Chicago, they were set to sneak into the playoffs again. Interestingly enough, Colorado has been leading the central division every year thus far going into January, however, they have fallen off the past two seasons to be wildcard teams.

Alright, I am not that happy about the Mitchell contract that you will read below. It was at the beginning of February that Mitchell finally showed that he was willing to talk about a contract and at that time it made sense to get him locked up for as long as possible. It is going to make things difficult in the future to get other players signed but Mitchell has been Chicago’s best defenseman.

After what looked like a promising season Chicago went down three games to zero to the Winnipeg Jets in the first round. Chicago failed to complete the comeback and lost in game six of the first round.

Key Trades:

Chicago traded Ryan Strome and Pius Suter to Carolina for Teravainen, Bean, and Gunler from Carolina
Chicago traded Toews and Wallmark to St. Louis for Sanford and Galchenyuk
Chicago traded two draft picks to Detroit for Robby Fabbri

Notable Contracts: 

Chicago signed Beaudin to an eight-year 3 million dollar contract
Chicago re-signed Ian Mitchell to a six-year 13.5 million dollar contract.

2023-24 Season – (Year 4)

Offseason moves to begin the year:

No significant moves to begin the season, Chicago did have to let Duncan Keith walk in free agency because he was asking for money the team did not have at around four million a season.

This was the first year that Chicago did not start the season with players like Duncan Keith and Jonathan Toews. Both were productive up until the end in Chicago but eventually found themselves on other teams.

Regular Season Record: 47-30-5
Playoff Finish: Stanley Cup Final
Stanley Cup Champion: Toronto Maple Leafs
Award Winners: None For Blackhawks
Point Leaders: Goals (Patrick Kane 29) Assists (Teuvo Teravainen 46) Points (Teravainen 71)

Notes: 

I think it is important to note the top contracts on the ‘Hawks team during year four. Ian Mitchell is making 13.7 million per season, Patrick Kane is making 10.05 million, while Adam Boqvist, Dylan Strome, and Alex DeBrincat are all making around 9 million per season.

Zachary L’Heureux (Chicago’s sixth overall pick in 2021) made a big jump to the NHL this season and was already apart of the team’s top six. His draft was the one year Chicago failed to make the playoffs which ended out working for the best because he was a great player during his first year putting up 11 goals and 51 points.

With some of the large contracts, this team has found finding depth for bottom-six players has been tough. The Blackhawks did not make any big moves at the deadline because their roster already featured a lot of players on one-year deals that wouldn’t be re-signed due to a lack of cap space.

The Blackhawks put up a run to the Stanley Cup Final but failed to win it all running into a hot Toronto Maple Leafs team that swept them. Beforehand Chicago beat Colorado, Anaheim, and Edmonton to make it to the Final. Kane led the team with 11 goals and 16 points through the postseason.

Key Trades:

Chicago traded Kempny at the trade deadline to Winnipeg for a third-round draft pick

Notable Contracts:

Noel Gunner 4 years at 1.5 million
Mario Ferraro (waiver pick up) 3 years at 1.3 million

2024-25 Season – (Year 5)

Offseason moves to begin the year:

Going into the re-sign phase during the offseason there were a number of players available in Chicago, and only 4.5 million in cap space to get them re-signed. Chicago let Nichushkin, Johns, Murphy, and Quenneville walk during the offseason due to not enough cap space to keep them around.

All of those players were big pieces in the Blackhawks depth the past few seasons of the simulation, and replacing them was not going to be easy.

The Blackhawks added one free agent during the offseason Lawson Crouse was signed for 1.3 million for one year at the age of 27. Crouse has size at 6’4″ that could be beneficial in the bottom six for the team.

Regular Season Record: 47-32-3
Playoff Finish: Stanley Cup Final
Stanley Cup Champion: Philadephia Flyers
Award Winners: None For Blackhawks
Point Leaders: Goals (DeBrincat 30) Assists (Strome 45) Points (Strome 71)

Notes:

The Blackhawks had a losing record going into January and were out of the playoff picture at that time. However, they managed to end the year as the final Wild Card Team with seven points above the closest team in the wild card race.

The trade deadline was critical for the Blackhawks as they were not in a playoff spot at that time. Chicago chose to bring Evander Kane to the team as well as a young defenseman in Jaylin Doyle. The moves made the Blackhawks better and helped push the team into the playoffs with 97 points.

Even though Patrick Kane had finally started to regress in his play he still put up 52 points including 22 goals. Kane continued to stay productive well into his 30s, except I do not think his next contract should be for more than two or three years. Let the Blackhawks rework that every offseason.

An injury to Teravainan causes him to miss time at the end of the season, which was not good for the team in order to compete in the playoffs. Teuvo came back in game five for the Blackhawks as they found themselves down 3-1 in the series against Colorado in round one. He helped them come back to win the series in seven games.

The Blackhawks went to the Stanley Cup Final in back to back seasons and yet fell short of the Stanley Cup once again. While that is sad to see, this team did have some pretty competitive hockey throughout their run.

Key Trades:

Chicago traded Kubalik, Wilson, and a first-round draft pick to San Jose for Evander Kane and Jaylin Doyle

Notable Contracts:

Dylan Strome signed for five years at 9.425 million