{"id":690975,"date":"2026-06-08T04:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T04:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/690975\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T04:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T04:11:08","slug":"blackhawks-hoping-to-add-veteran-defenseman-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/690975\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks Hoping To Add Veteran Defenseman \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Down the stretch last season, the Blackhawks found themselves without a key veteran when Connor Murphy<\/a> was moved to Edmonton before the trade deadline.\u00a0 That left them with just one veteran blueliner, Matt Grzelcyk<\/a>, while the rest of the back end was 24 or younger.<\/p>\n

Speaking with reporters at the NHL Draft Combine including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>, GM Kyle Davidson acknowledged that they wanted to see how things would go without the veteran safety valve in Murphy.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t get any sort of late-season boost and evidently, Davidson is hoping to not see that recent history repeat itself next season as he acknowledged that he wants to explore options to add a veteran this summer.<\/p>\n

As things stand, Grzelcyk is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.\u00a0 As a result, if he leaves, the oldest blueliner on Chicago\u2019s roster would be Louis Crevier<\/a>, who just turned 25 last month and completed his first full NHL season in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks have been rebuilding for a while now with just one playoff appearance in the past nine years, that being the expanded 2020 postseason.\u00a0 That has allowed them to amass an impressive crop of youngsters, including on the back end.\u00a0 Sam Rinzel<\/a> and Artyom Levshunov<\/a> are well on their way to becoming impact players.\u00a0 Alex Vlasic<\/a> already is one.\u00a0 Crevier and Wyatt Kaiser<\/a> both took steps forward this season while Kevin Korchinski<\/a> showed some flashes in the past.\u00a0 That\u2019s the makings of what could be a solid back end in the future.<\/p>\n

But even rebuilding teams need veterans to help lead them through some rough times, something Davidson has recognized in recent years with some of the overpayments he made up front to get some into the system.\u00a0 Now, this certainly feels like one of those times where he may need to try the same thing, but this time on the back end.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Chicago, the side they need might be the easier one to get.\u00a0 Assuming Rinzel, Levshunov, and Crevier are the top three (in some order) on the right side, they should be set there.\u00a0 Vlasic and Kaiser are currently the top options on the left, with a now waiver-eligible Korchinski also in the mix.\u00a0 Someone who could hold down a second-pairing spot on the left side and log around 20 minutes per night would be a big addition, especially with the team hoping to take a step or two forward in the standings next season.<\/p>\n

Cap space certainly shouldn\u2019t be an issue in Davidson\u2019s efforts to add a veteran defender.\u00a0 They presently have around $40MM in room, per PuckPedia<\/a>, and while Connor Bedard<\/a>\u2019s next contract will be pricey, they\u2019ll have more than enough space to get into (and try to win) the bidding for a blueliner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Down the stretch last season, the Blackhawks found themselves without a key veteran when Connor Murphy was moved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4824,385,99],"class_list":["post-690975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}