Blackhawks post-draft offseason checklist

The 2026 NHL draft has concluded, in which the Chicago Blackhawks made five selections this year. Kyle Davidson appears to have struck gold in the second round with the Xavier Villeneuve and Ryan Roobroeck picks. Both are talented players with high upside who have the potential to be future impact core players with this team.

This was by far the least active draft of the Davidson era, as it was the first time he did not make any round one picks. Instead, Chicago sacrificed their fourth overall selection in order to add an established veteran piece in Bowen Byram to their defensive core.

It has been a busy start to the summer so far, with the draft, Byram blockbuster trade, and Andre Burakovsky deal. However, there are still plenty of items remaining on the checklist for Davidson to address prior to next season, before he goes on vacation. Let's get into that list.

Top Line Winger Addition

Davidson has addressed the need for an upgrade to the defense by adding Byram. Jordan Greenway also provides this squad some much-needed grit in the bottom-six forward core. The next player to target has to be towards the top of the lineup.

This team needs to add a top-line winger to play with Connor Bedard. This is especially necessary with the plan of splitting up Bedard, Anton Frondell, and Frank Nazar next year. If that is the case, more support is needed on the wing for these centers to work with.

Roman Kantserov coming in will help. But Davidson cannot be solely banking on him when it comes to filling that void up front. That would be a lot of pressure to place on the Russian rookie's shoulders.

If Davidson can land a big fish like Jason Robertson or Kirill Marchenko, that would go a long way towards pushing this rebuilding group into playoff contention. However, it would come at a cost. As previewed by the Byram return, serious sacrifices would have to be made to make this happen. At this stage of the process, Chicago can't be afraid of swinging for the fences.

Lock up Bedard

July is fast approaching, and Bedard is still in need of a new deal. While there is no set timeline when it comes to getting this done, the sooner it gets dealt with, the better.

There is no concern with Davidson and the Blackhawks about whether Bedard will extend. He will; it's just a numbers game that is holding this process up. It would be preferable for this contract to be long-term. Bedard's agent might be holding out for a shorter-term contract with the prospect of cashing in even more on the next deal.

Whatever happens, it will be a rich contract in store for Bedard. And he will be worth every penny; this is the franchise player at the forefront of this rebuild. There is no need to make this negotiation more complicated than it needs to be; get this over with and lock Bedard up.

Extend Byram

Bedard's contract is not the only major extension on the horizon. The newcomer, Byram, is in line for a massive raise as he heads into the last year of his current deal.

He is eligible to extend with the Blackhawks as early as July 1. It sounds like there is a good chance this gets done soon. Insider Frank Seravalli believes that Byram will put pen to paper on a long-term deal in the near future.

This will be a big number, as the market for defensemen is due for a drastic shift with the upcoming Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar extensions as well. Insider Darren Dreger has projected the Byram contract may land as high as $12-13 million per year. Keep in mind the salary cap is rising rapidly; the NHL economic landscape is shifting significantly.

Tend to other RFAs

Bedard is the obvious one here. But, there are other RFA's for the Blackhawks to extend this summer. Those players are Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro, and Drew Commesso.

With that said, the future of all these players is a question mark. Commesso will have to fight Arvid Soderblom for the backup goalie position. As for Korchinski and Del Mastro, the left-side defense has become crowded with the Byram acquisition. With Alex Vlasic and Wyatt Kaiser in play as well, they will be fighting for the remaining scraps of leftover ice time.

The UFAs, on the other hand, are most likely gone. All signs point to Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, and Matt Grzelcyk moving elsewhere.

It will be interesting to see what else Davidson has in store this summer. Mike Ehrmantraut famously told Walter White in Breaking Bad: "No more half measures." The time for this team to go all in is now.

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