The Chicago Blackhawks should still be considered rebuilders as they haven't proven otherwise yet. They are going to come out of the rebuild, but just not yet. Their core is either very young and inexperienced or pieces haven't even arrived in the NHL.
There are still plenty of moves and changes that are going to be made to the Blackhawks before the next offseason even ends. Chicago has a number of players that are on expiring contracts and will become UFAs, but also other possible trade pieces. We're going to go through the group of them to predict if they will be dealt before or during next season.
Jason Dickinson isn't on a particularly good deal, but he did earn it when there weren't very many options in the lineup and he stepped up in a big way. On a horrible 2024-25 Blackhawks team, he was a +4 with 22 goals, 35 points, and finished 12th in Selke Trophy voting. The Blackhawks have two retention spots to use and I think they will use both. Dickinson might be one of them with a $4.25 million AAV deal. Oliver Moore and Anton Frondell will be everyday NHLers next season and Ryan Greene is pushing for a spot in the NHL too. These are all centers who will get a look down the middle in place of Dickinson.
Ilya Mikheyev is one player I'd like to see the Blackhawks keep. He isn't necessarily the scoring forward that they're looking for, but he brings a different set of skills that are pretty rare. His speed and two-way play definitely paid off last season. After being a cap dump, he stepped up with 20 goals and 34 points in a third line role with penalty killing time. He also received some Selke Trophy attention for his defensive play too. Though he would be worth more to sell than Dickinson, I think he stays and re-signs during the season.
Connor Murphy is all but gone. There are plenty of young defensemen, and although he is the only veteran, it's better to move him before his value declines more than to get rid of a younger player before really knowing what they have. Moving Murphy before the season would allow for Alex Vlasic, Sam Rinzel, Wyatt Kaiser, Artyom Levshunov, Nolan Allan, Ethan Del Mastro, and Kevin Korchinski to be on the NHL roster with Louis Crevier an option as well.
Nick Foligno has been a great leader for the young players in Chicago and picking his up was a good move. I don't think he's worth trading and he should have an everyday fourth line role for the Blackhawks this coming season. Instead, Chicago should sign him to another 1-2 year deal and see how it goes from there.
Sam Laffery was acquired as a fourth line center/depth piece and there's no reason for the Blackhawks to keep him past next season. They will try to flip him before the trade deadline. As I mentioned in the section about Dickinson, there are young centers that will fill the middle soon, so Lafferty won't be on the team and in the way.
The final player to mention is Laurent Brossoit. It was both unfortunate what happened to him last season and good for Arvid Soderblom and Chicago at the same time. Soderblom may very well have been claimed off of waivers instead of being given the opportunity to bounce back in a major way in the NHL as a backup, a role he will take on again. Brossoit isn't as valuable as Soderblom and will likely be the third string goalie now since Chicago will lose Soderblom on waivers if he's sent down. It doesn't make a ton of sense to trade him yet, but teams will be desperate for goaltending and he is a good trade piece for that.
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