Contract
Chicago Black Hawks sign defenseman TJ Brodie to a two-year contract with an AAV of $3.75 million.
What exactly is Kyle Davidson’s game? The Blackhawks general manager declared this spring that the time of staying in the cellar was over and that he would work to make his team more competitive in 2024-25. He has done that. But he has also made the rebuilding Blackhawks really old, really fast.
Brodie is the seventh player to sign with the Blackhawks on Monday, following the acquisition of Ilya Mikheyev Vancouver earlier this week. There are eight players, all of them 29 or older. Brodie is 34, the same age as Craig Smith. Alec Martinez and Pat Maroon are both 36. On a team that already has a 36-year-old player Nick Foligno32 years Petr Mrazek and Taylor Hall and 31 years old Conor Murphy.
There’s no denying that these new-look Blackhawks will be significantly more competitive than last year’s ragtag, injury-plagued group of overmatched youngsters and veterans filling in. But to what end? It’s not like they’ll suddenly be able to overtake the Central Division’s Big Four: Dallas, Colorado, Winnipeg and Nashville. And Utah’s rebuild is further along and getting a significant infusion of talent in the process. Mikhail SergachevThe Blackhawks have been preaching patience since they began tearing him down in the summer of 2022, and perhaps no GM has had a longer leash than Davidson, who has the full support of new owner Danny Wirtz. It’s been all about prospects and rising young stars. So this sudden change of course is baffling, to say the least. That said, most of the older players are on one- or two-year contracts and could be tradeable assets at the trade deadline. So perhaps the plan is to simply let the group of young players knocking on the door National Hockey League (NHL) door or already inside — Lucas Reichel, Frank Nazar, Landon Slaggert and Colton Dach, among others, up front; Wyatt Kaiser, Ethan Del Mastro and Nolan Allan, among others, in the backcourt, players who have already matured in Rockford. But at some point, those players will be NHL-ready. And there isn’t much room for them as they are currently built.
Anyway, none of this falls squarely on Brodie, who on his own is a perfect addition to a young blue line. But that’s what Alec Martinez was, too. Brodie’s signing is simply the most recent, so it raises these questions. He’s coming off a rough season in Toronto in which his on-ice goal differential at five-on-five was minus-15, and his expected goals percentage was minus-13.74 percent relative to his teammates. But he’s a well-respected and crafty veteran. That may count for something. “TJ is a strong, two-way defenseman who can play valuable minutes in any situation,” Davidson said in a released statement. “He brings a wealth of experience to our roster, and we’re excited about the impact he’ll have on our team.”
Of course. But if Connor Bedard, Alex Vlasic and Kevin Korchinski They are the only young people in the room, what impact can all these kids have?
Contract grade: C
Degree of adjustment: D
(Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)