Blackhawks Sign 2018 7th Round Pick Josiah Slavin to Entry-Level Deal

The Chicago Blackhawks announced today that they have signed Josiah Slavin to an entry-level deal through the 2022-23 season. Now Slavin will join the Rockford IceHogs on a tryout contract considering as of now his official contract will not kick into effect until next season.

Josiah Slavin was drafted in the seventh round of the 2018 NHL draft by the Blackhawks. While he probably is not the top prospect within the organization, Slavin is going to get an opportunity to prove what he is worth in Rockford.

The Blackhawks are all about bringing in prospects right now as they go through a rebuild. Adding another young forward to the IceHogs is not going to hurt that projector, and will only help the young players build chemistry.

Slavin is joining the IceHogs after playing with Colorado College for the past two years. This season he has eight assists and five goals through 22 games in 2020-21. While usually a player drafted 193rd overall might not see a lot of action in professional sports, for Slavin playing in the NHL runs in the family as his older brother Jaccob Slavin is a defenseman with the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Chicago Blackhawks need to continue to add young players to their organization through the draft.

This season has seen a number of different players jump to the NHL for Chicago. Philipp Kurashev, Nicolas Beaudin, Brandon Hagel, Ian Mitchell, Matthew Highmore, and Kevin Lankinen are now NHL players in their own rights. The team needs to continue to build that next round of top talent in Rockford.

There are some promising players still not with the team. Alec Regula, Michael Teply, and Tim Soderland all could potentially be with the Blackhawks in a few years. Adding Slavin to the mix will only help the organization in the long run.

While the Blackhawks will not see Slavin in the NHL this season, he does join the IceHogs who currently have a 4-8-1-0 record this season. The IceHogs are back in action tonight against the Grand Rapids Griffins and the Hawks are in action on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.