Morning Chirps: Blackhawks extend qualifying offers to four; trade market remains active

Happy Free Agency Eve! The Chicago Blackhawks and the rest of the NHL will gauge the free agency market starting tomorrow at 11 am CT. Until then, get caught up on all the news from around the league.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks extended qualifying offers to four restricted free agents: Connor Bedard, Drew Commesso, Ethan Del Mastro, and Kevin Korchinski. Defensemen Ryan Mast and Dmitry Kuzmin were not given offers and will become unrestricted free agents.

• Richard Jelinek thinks the Blackhawks have gotten a pair of future cornerstones with the second-round selections of Xavier Villeneuve and Ryan Roobroeck.

• On this date in 2013, the New Jersey Devils hosted the NHL Entry Draft. The Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers changed their franchises’ trajectories by taking Nathan MacKinnon and Aleksander Barkov with the first two picks. The Blackhawks selected Ryan Hartman with the 30th overall pick, the final pick of the first round. Six future Blackhawks were selected ahead of Hartman: Seth Jones (4th – Nashville Predators), Max Domi (12th – Phoenix Coyotes), Nikita Zadorov (16th – Buffalo Sabres), Andre Burakovsky (23rd – Washington Capitals), Marko Dano (27th – Columbus Blue Jackets), and Jason Dickinson (29th – Dallas Stars)

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, June 30: Orval Tessier and Karl Stewart.

NHL Chirps

• Some of the notable players who didn’t receive qualifying offers include Skyler Brind’Amour (Carolina Hurricanes), Cole Schwindt (Panthers), Bobby Brink (Minnesota Wild), Joe Veleno (Canadiens), Ryder Rolson (Predators), Calen Addison (Devils), Paul Cotter (Devils), Adam Boqvist (New York Islanders), Brendan Brisson (New York Rangers), Arthur Kaliyev (Ottawa Senators), Philip Tomasino (Philadelphia Flyers), Philipp Kurashev (San Jose Sharks), Jonathan Berggren (St. Louis Blues), and Matias Maccelli (Toronto Maple Leafs).

• The Panthers acquired the rights to defenseman Radko Gudas from the Anaheim Ducks for the signing rights to A.J. Greer. I don’t remember the last time we saw something like this, but both teams know they won’t be re-signing their players, so why not try to beat the rush on a player they like? Greer is a player I’d like the Blackhawks to bring in, but with the acquisition of Jordan Greenway, it’s unlikely that he’s still on their list.

• Later in the evening, the Panthers sent a 2028 third-round pick to the Vegas Golden Knights for goaltender Akira Schmid.

• The Vancouver Canucks acquired Brendan Gallagher from the Montreal Canadiens for future considerations. The Canadiens will retain half of Gallagher’s $6.5 million salary. The Canucks also sent defenseman Nils Hoglander to the Predators for a 2029 third-round draft pick.

• The Utah Mammoth made a trio of moves on Monday. First, they acquired forward Joshua Roy from the Canadiens for defenseman Maksymilian Szuber. They later signed him to a one-year, two-way contract worth $850,000. Later, they inked forward Kailer Yamamoto to a two-year, $3.5 million contract extension. Finally, they re-signed defenseman Nick DeSimone to a two-year, $2 million contract extension.

• It looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs will replace Brandon Carlo from within, as they re-signed Troy Stretcher for two years. Rick Dhaliwal reported that the deal is worth $2.7 million.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, June 30: Ron Harris, Steve Weeks, Bob Froese, Randy Ladocuer, Steve Duchesne, Jim Montgomery, Jamie McLennan, Andrew Alberts, and Jacob Bernard-Docker.

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