It is possible the Chicago Blackhawks disappoint with a quiet offseason

The hope this offseason is the Chicago Blackhawks use their vast salary cap space to upgrade the team's top six by making a major splash free agent signing.

However, there is a possibility the Blackhawks have a quiet offseason. Do not forget, Kyle Davidson is still the general manager, and he loves having salary cap flexibility just as much as he loves his center being under six feet tall.

Another reason this could be a quiet offseason is Davidson revealed the increasing salary cap could leave teams feeling less pressure to offload talented players to get under the cap.

Davidson's prudence when it comes to the salary cap and teams not being inclined to trade elite talent for a couple of draft picks to get cap space could mean a duplicate of last offseason, which was prudent at best.

It would be disappointing if the Blackhawks have another prudent offseason.

At some point, the rebuild has to move forward. The standards have to be raised, and Davidson proved last season that bargain shopping did nothing to lift the Hawks out of last place.

Being interested in kicking the tires on Mitch Marner or Nikolaj Ehlers is not going to cut it. Close the deal on one of those top-tier free agents. It is time to get future stars Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar some help.

Betting on all the other prospects panning out is a huge risk. Not all of them are going to reach their ceilings. Some just reach their floors like Lukas Reichel.

That is why pursuing some of the higher-class free agents can help move the Hawks up in the standings.

This is the offseason where the Blackhawks are going to make a significant financial investment in Bedard by hopefully signing him to a lengthy contract extension. It would be organizational negligence to ask him for the third straight season to skate with a revolving door of linemates while he has to wait for Oliver Moore, Paul Ludwinski, or Ryan Greene to develop in Rockford.

The same can be said for Nazar, too. He is showing promise that he is capable of being a star player, and a player like Ehlers would be the ideal linemate.

It would be one thing for the Blackhawks to lose out on Marner because they were outbid by a desperate contender like the Carolina Hurricanes. That you can live with, but not winning his services because the cost was too high, would be a disappointment.

A prudent offseason would also be a disappointment.