Wyatt Kaiser's contract delay is likely not about money

Training camp is just around the corner, after the Chicago Blackhawks had a quiet summer, as far as roster acquisitions go. General manager Kyle Davidson is ready to let the kids take over and make this team their own. However, he still has one piece of unfinished business as defenseman Wyatt Kaiser remains without a contract.

Wyatt Kaiser fits into many roles

There are varying degrees of assessment for Kaiser among Blackhawks fans. Some feel he could be a top-pairing defenseman, while others think he’s a replacement-level player at best. Those are the extreme ends of the spectrum, and the truth is in the middle. The 23-year-old blueliner is a solid defender who can move the puck well. Sure, he has his ups and downs, but name me a defenseman with under 100 NHL games of experience who plays mistake-free hockey.

Kaiser split last season between the Blackhawks and the Rockford IceHogs, scoring four goals and eight points in 57 NHL games. It feels like he has only scratched the surface of his offensive game as he focuses on his defensive responsibilities. He spent the majority of his ice time paired with veterans last season. His four most-used partners were Connor Murphy, Seth Jones, TJ Brodie, and Alec Martinez. However, Kaiser’s best pairings regarding Corsi for percentage (CF%) at 5-on-5 were with Kevin Korchinski (81.8 CF%), Nolan Allan (55.5 CF%), and Louis Crevier (50.0 CF%). Granted, these were much smaller sample sizes, but he showed he can be the anchor in a pairing of two younger defenders.

We learned last season that Kaiser is a hybrid between your prototypical stay-at-home defenseman and a puck-moving offensive blueliner. He can play both roles, and there is no doubt he puts in the work. Every time he was reassigned to the IceHogs over the last two seasons, he returned a better player. Kaiser is a cerebral player and a student of the game.

Kaiser is relatively quiet in the locker room, but he lights up when you ask him to talk about the details of the game. He loves talking about systems and the Xs and Os of hockey. He is a coach in the making. His attention to detail is welcome in such a young group of players that will only get younger over the next couple of seasons.

Money is not the holdup in this stalemate

So why does a talented young defenseman who can play up and down the lineup with various partners not have a contract just days before training camp? That is an excellent question, for which I think I have the answer. I feel the stalemate is not about money, but rather about the term. If I were Kaiser’s agent, I’d be trying to get the longest deal possible for my client, while the Blackhawks are likely not ready to make a lenghty commitment yet.

The Blackhawks don’t know what their long-term defensive core will look like. They sure have a vision of it, but these next two seasons will determine how it actually shapes up. With Kaiser, Korchinski, Crevier, Allan, Ethan Del Mastro, Sam Rinzel, and Artyom Levhsunov, you already have seven young defensemen with NHL potential in the system.

You also need to factor in next summer’s NHL Entry Draft, too. While Gavin McKenna is the sure-fire first overall pick, the top of the draft of the class is loaded with talented defensemen. If the Blackhawks don’t get the No. 1 pick and still land in the top five, they might select another blueliner like Keaton Verhoeff, Ryan Lin, Chase Ried, or Daxon Rudolph. That adds yet another talented player to an already crowded back end.

So, Davidson likely wants to see how the next two seasons play out before making any long-term deals with his young defenders. It was easy to sign Alex Vlasic to a six-year contract last year because he identified himself as a cornerstone player. Nobody else from this young corps has done that yet. Kaiser is not at the point in his career where you can say with certainty that he will be a fixture on the Blackhawks' defense. Can he be? Absolutely, but are you ready to declare that with a five or six-year contract? Davidson isn’t, and that is what is likely causing the holdup.

The Blackhawks still want time to see who actually reaches their potential and who falls short. Even if all these young defensemen become full-time NHL players, that gives you a position of strength at the trade table. Davidson can use one or more of these young defensemen to add a dynamic forward down the road. There are a lot of moving parts to the rebuild right now, and a lot can change over the next couple of years.

I fully expect Kaiser to be on the ice for the first day of training camp with a new contract. If I had to place a bet, I would say the two sides land in the middle and sign a three-year contract worth around $10 million total.