Off the ice, this team has done far more wrong than right over the past 15 years which has been exacerbated over this past year by the management and ownership's general disdain to deal with the issues.

On the ice, the team went out and paid a fortune for Seth Jones at a puzzling time the last off-season, as this team wasn't in a playoff window and Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are entering the last year under contract in 2022-23.

GM and Coach

Kyle Davidson took over from Stan Bowman in October of 2021 as the Interim GM and was then named GM on March 1st, 2022. The Seth Jones trade was not his and I thought he made some astute deals by trading Marc-Andre Fleury for a 2nd round pick in 2022 and Brandon Hagel for Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk and first-round picks from Tampa Bay in 2023 and 2024.

Derek King took over as interim head coach on November 6th, 2021 and the team had a record of 27-33-10 in 70 games. King is still listed as interim, so perhaps Chicago goes after one of the many experienced names out there.

Salary Cap

Next season, the team has just over $21 million available in cap space to replace or re-sign five unrestricted free agents and five restricted free agents.

Draft Picks

After Stan Bowman acquired Seth Jones and the #32 pick in 2021 (Nolan Allen) for Adam Boqvist, the #12 pick in 2021 (Cole Sillinger), the 44th pick in 2021 (Aleksi Heimosalmi) and what is now the 6th overall pick in 2022, it ended up costing the club two fairly high picks in Sillinger and this year's pick.

Davidson has done well to get some draft picks back as the team has two second-round picks and three third-round picks in 2022, but not a first-round pick.

In 2023, Chicago has its first-round pick as well as the option to use Tampa Bay's first-round pick in either 2023 or 2024 (top-ten protected). They also have Tampa Bay's second-round pick as well as their own picks from rounds three through seven.

Free Agents

Unrestricted free agents are Calvin De Haan, Erik Gustafsson, Collin Delia and  Kevin Lankinen. Andrew Shaw is a UFA but injured and expected to retire.

The team could bring back De Haan but for much less than his $4.55 million AAV that has expired and Gustafsson at a similar salary as this year. In goal, they could bring back Delia and Lankinen, but one or both will more than likely test out free agency, which means the Blackhawks will need to re-sign one of them sooner than later if they wish them back.

Restricted free agents are Dominik Kubalik, Dylan Strome, Kirby Dach, Philipp Kurashev, Caleb Jones and Wyatt Kalynuk.

Strome, Dach, Kurashev, Jones and Kalynuk should be re-signed, but I think the team doesn't qualify Kubalik at $4 million for one year.

Roster

Over the past two years, I've given players ratings based on their results for a game or a season. It takes metrics, like scoring, shooting, hits, blocks, faceoffs, etc., and spits out an easy-to-digest number under 10. Elite skaters are around 6.7 and higher, while the average skater comes in at about 6.41. I've determined that a player around 6.25 or lower is right at the replacement level.

Goalies average a little better at around 6.5, but game-to-game performances are like a yo-yo, so averages can fluctuate.

Here is Chicago's projected roster as it stands with an average of 6.37. As I'm starting with non-playoff teams, their average not surprisingly is below the league average. 

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have been together on the Blackhawks for 15 seasons and won three Stanley Cups. They are both entering the last year of their contract and both will be 34-years-old by Christmas 2022. Toews missed all of 2020-21 and played 71 games this season, but wasn't the player he was before and might never be. Kane is still producing (91 points in 78 games), and might still have two or three seasons at this pace. No matter what the team does moving forward, the club has to build beyond these two, starting now.

In the forwards, the Blackhawks have two players in Kane and Alex DeBrincat that are among the elite in the NHL. After that, there is a bit of a step-down to Dylan Strome, Toews and perhaps Kirby Dach in a year or two.

The left side has DeBrincat who had 41 goals this season, but he becomes an RFA at the end of 2022-23 and will need to be qualified at $9 million for at least one season if he and Chicago don't agree on a deal before next year. Next in line is Kubalik who had a very disappointing season with 15 goals and 17 assists in 78 games, but he is to become an RFA as well who would need to be qualified at $4 million next year. After that, Philipp Kurashev, Jujhar Khaira, and Boris Katchouk will need to compete with Mike Hardman, Brett Connolly and Lukas Reichel for the last two spots.

At least for next season, center ice has the most potential for Chicago as Strome, Toews and Kirby Dach are expected to be the top three ahead of either Sam Lafferty, Henrik Borgstrom,  Reese Johnson, Mike Entwistle, Josiah Slavin or Lukas Reichel. Strome had a resurgent year in 2021-22 with 22 goals and 26 assists in 69 games, while Toews will look to get a step back and Kirby Dach hopes to improve on his nine goals and 17 assists in 70 games. None of this is a given.

On the right side, Patrick Kane is a model of consistency, but after him, it is pretty thin between Tyler Johnson who only managed 26 games last season and Taylor Raddysh who was good after he was brought over from Tampa Bay. It gets even thinner for the fourth spot with Henrik Borgstrom, Reese Johnson, Mackenzie Entwistle, Brett Connolly or Mike Hardman looking for that spot.

On defence, Seth Jones is their best defender no doubt, but he has signed for eight more years at $9.5 million AAV. He is 27-years-old and will be 35-years-old when the deal is done, which doesn't bode well for the club.

Connor Murphy and Jake McCabe are the next tier of defencemen in Chicago with McCabe signed at $4 million AAV for the next three seasons and Murphy signed at $4.4 million AAV for the next four. Both are average defensemen at best who provide hits and blocked shots and solid defence but are not transition machines by any means. Filling out the fourth to seven spots should be Riley Stillman, Caleb Jones, Alex Vlasic, Alec Regula, Wyatt Kalynuk, Ian Mitchell or Nicolas Beaudin. I think Stillman and Jones are locked, but the others are unproven. Chicago needs a better version of Erik Gustafsson and might need to find them in free agency or be patient with Mitchell or Regula and hope that they become 35-45 point defenders in two to three years.

Chicago did well to convince Marc-Andre Fleury to accept a trade this year, but with Kevin Lankinen and Collin Delia ready for unrestricted free agency, the Blackhawk's crease is empty of a bonafide NHL goalie right now. Maybe Arvid Soderblom is ready for a shot next season after his fine year in the AHL where he played 38 games and had a 91.9 save percentage in the regular season, but I figure they will bring back one of Lankinen or Delia or sign an established goalie with a few years of NHL experience.

Chicago will go one of two ways next season. They will either look to convince Toews and/or Kane to be traded before the deadline or they will re-sign one or both of them to three or four-year deals and look to compete during that window. History should tell ownership and Davidson that sentimental moves rarely work out on the ice.

A full-blown rebuild is rarely popular in bigger markets, so look for the sentimental approach. If the team is built around Kane, DeBrincat, Seth Jones and Dach, it's not a talented enough core to be a contending playoff team in the next two or three years.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you want me to focus on any players or topics by messaging me below or following me on Twitter @gampbler15.