Which former Chicago Blackhawks should the team sign or who to avoid in free agency?

The Chicago Blackhawks were notorious under their previous general manager for bringing back former players and attempting to rekindle past success.

It sometimes worked out alright, and other times was a disaster. I'm pretty positive that Brandon Saad played here and was traded 17 times. But this is a new front office and they shouldn't avoid doing something that may benefit the team simply because they fear the public perception of such a move. In this article I will examine a few former Blackhawks that I think would make sense to resign this offseason.

Former Blackhawks to avoid

Dominik Kubalik

Look, I may be one of the few people who still actually really likes this player. He is a former 30 goal scorer and those don't grow on trees.

The issue for Kubalik is that the trajectory of his career has steadily been pointing downward since he had the truly magical rookie season alongside Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad. He is a pure goal-scorer who has struggled mightily to score any goals the past few seasons across multiple different teams.

And while the Hawks desperately need goal-scoring, (and part of me is curious to see a sniper like Kubalik alongside Connor Bedard) I think that at a certain point you have to believe what your eyes are telling you. Sadly I think Kubalik's regression is real. I would avoid bringing him back to Chicago.

Teuvo Teravainen

Teuvo is in an opposite situation to Kubalik. Teravainen has been on an upward trajectory since being traded away from the Hawks back in 2016. Since leaving the Hawks Teravainen has posted four separate 20-goal seasons and he has been an integral part of the highly successful Carolina Hurricanes.

He is a very solid two-way forward who would no doubt substantially improve the Hawks roster for next season. And last season was arguably his best offensive season thus far in his career.

The issue is that he is 29 years old and is no doubt looking for a long-term contract this offseason. For the Hawks to bring him into a rebuilding team in which he would be required to do a bulk of the heavy lifting offensively and defensively for the first several seasons, it would likely be necessary to overpay him as well.

I'm not an expert on these things, but that contract could look something like 7 years at somewhere between $6-$8 million per season. I base that number on the average salaries that borderline elite players like Teuvo have been earning in free agency the past few off-seasons.

Given the Hawks stated intention to avoid giving out long term contracts this offseason, I think that bring Teuvo back simply won't make sense. Again, it isn't a knock on his skill or his fit with the team, simply a calculation based on Davidson's comments about this free agency cycle and the future free agency classes in 2025 and 2026 which have truly elite talent for the Hawks to target.