The 5 Players That Make Up The Future Blackhawks Core

5. Connor Murphy

Yeah I said two elite defensemen. Connor Murphy is an elite defenseman the team has under contract for a long time. The Blackhawks re-signed Murphy this offseason to a 4.4 million dollar contract that runs through the end of the 2025-26 season. That is four more years of hockey with Murphy after this season and one would imagine that is all going to be played in Chicago.

The Hawks defenseman is already the alternate captain of this team, and he really took a home team discount when he took the contract extension only going up less than a million from the 3.85 he makes right now.

Murphy is not the flashy star defensemen that is putting up points every night, but he is the reliable player the Hawks need - like Niklas Hjlmarsson in the past.

Murphy is signed for the second longest amount of time within the entire organization behind only Seth Jones, and the two are going to be working together on the blue line for a long time.

What do you think of this list of five? Obviously some more names are going to be introduced in the coming years - and we could have another addition or two as the season progresses.

Lukas Reichel is one player to keep an eye on, but honestly he has not even played a game yet at the NHL level so putting him on a list like this just seemed too soon even if he has been great in the AHL.