8 players who should not be back with the Chicago Blackhawks next season

Taylor Raddysh

Raddysh is probably the biggest disappointment this season after Lukas Reichel and Arvid Soderblom. Raddysh had just five goals and nine assists on the season.

He showed a lot of promise in 2022-23 with 20 goals and 17 assists. Raddysh was the player portion of the Brandon Hagel trade package from the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Hawks already cut ties with Boris Katchouk this season and Raddysh's struggles have made the Blackhawks the losers in that part of the deal.

Raddysh is still 26, but that type of decline in production is worrisome. Plus, the Blackhawks have other promising options they can move on with.

Nikita Zaitsev

The veteran defenseman battled injuries or healthy scratches all season. The only reason he was on the team in the first place was the Hawks took on his salary to help get to the spending floor and gain a draft pick from the Ottawa Senators.

The Hawks have plenty of defensive prospects on the Rockford IceHogs to take his place.

Jaycob Megna

Megna was added midseason after the blue line was decimated by injuries. He played all right this year. Again, he is in the same boat as Zaitsev as he is just taking away ice time from prospects such as Wyatt Kaiser, Isaak Philips, or Ethan Del Mastro.

Jarred Tinordi

Tinordi either watched the puck go into the net when he was on the ice, or he dropped the gloves. He was one of the worst players the Blackhawks had this season. Ideally, he would have been the No. 7 defenseman watching games from the press box. Injuries, especially in December, meant he had to play, and the results were usually not good.

The veteran was going through some nagging injuries, so he gets credit for putting on the sweater when asked. The defenseman can easily be replaced by the prospects the Blackhawks have.