| Pos | Role | Name |
| C | 1 | Jonathan Toews  ActiveJonathan Toews has agreed to an eight-year, $84 million contract extension. Patrick Kane signed an identical contract. Kane and Toews new cap hits of $10.5 million annually don't take effect until the 2015-16 campaign, but currently they're projected to be the two highest in the league. Toews fantasy value in standard leagues will always be a step below his actual worth as his offensive contributions are only a portion of what he brings to the table. He's a superb two-way center and a great team leader. Jul 9 |
| 2 | Brad Richards ActiveAs a youngster, Brad Richards dreamed about joining the Chicago Blackhawks -- but as a goalie. When he was growing up, his idol was then-Chicago goalie Ed Belfour. "I always wanted to be a goalie, but my dad, Glen, would never let me," Richards was quoted as saying. "He played goalie a bit himself, but he wouldn’t have it. I liked all the equipment, the gear, and whenever he wasn’t around, I was a goalie in street hockey. But he wouldn’t allow it, and I cried my eyes out when he said no." Part of Richards' dream has come true, as he recently agreed to a one-year, $2 million contract with the Hawks. But the club expects him to fill the void at second-line center next season. Jul 26 |
| 3 | Andrew Shaw ActiveAndrew Shaw will spend some of the summer rehabbing a right knee injury. Shaw was sidelined for about three weeks due to the injury before he returned on May 24. "Obviously it was painful but at a time like that, you feel like the team needs you and you want to be a part of it," Shaw said. "So you push through it." He's expected to be fine for the start of training camp. Jun 4 |
| 4 | Marcus Kruger ActiveMarcus Kruger is "fine" to play in Game 6 after he took a hard hit from Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin on Wednesday. "He takes some tough hits," coach Joel Quenneville said. "It looked like he probably got crushed, but it wasn't that bad. It was right in front of us. I got to see it. Sometimes you make contact with the boards and get hit pretty hard, but he's good about absorbing it, rolling off it. Tough, too." Kruger posted a minus-3 rating and logged 19:27 in Chicago's 5-4 double overtime win against Los Angeles. May 30 |
| 5 | Joakim Nordstrom ActiveJoakim Nordstrom will play in his fourth straight postseason game on Tuesday. It's a big opportunity for Nordstrom, given that he only had 16 contests worth of NHL experience going into the 2014 playoffs. He's playing alongside Brandon Saad and Marcus Kruger on the third line. Playing with Kruger in particular is helpful for Nordstrom as he used to play for Kruger's father and with his brother. "He's easy to play with and obviously he's helping me out, explaining if I don't understand or things like that. That makes it easy for me," Nordstrom said of Kruger. "He makes other players better, too, so he's a great player to play with." May 6 |
| LW | 1 | Patrick Sharp ActivePatrick Sharp's agent, Rick Curran, has received multiple assurances from Chicago GM Stan Bowman that his client won't be traded. "There's no truth to any rumor that Patrick Sharp is available to trade," Curran said. "He absolutely is not available. I had a meeting with Stan Bowman a week ago to ask him what was going to happen. He said, 'I don't know what's going to happen, but I can tell you that Patrick Sharp is not available right now.' When the Sportsnet guy, Nick Kypreos, erroneously made a statement and everyone went crazy, I called Stan again. I asked, 'Has anything changed?' He said, 'absolutely not.' He's full of [expletive]." The Blackhawks have been linked to Ryan Kesler and Jason Spezza in trade rumors and Sharp's name surfaced as a trade candidate, but those reports appear to be false. Jun 26 |
| 2 | Brandon Saad ActiveBlackhawks forward Brandon Saad will be a restricted free agent after next season and is due for a huge raise to the $764,167 he’s making on his entry-level contract. Saad said there have been no talks about an extension yet. ‘‘If it happens, great,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s always nice to have that security and feel comfortable that you’ve re-signed. But I’m more focused on having a good year and contributing to the team. All that stuff will take care of itself.’’ General manager Stan Bowman said that ‘‘it’s been a busy time for us’’ and that Saad’s situation will be addressed eventually. ‘‘The exciting thing for all of us is that he just keeps getting better,’’ Bowman said. ‘‘We certainly haven’t seen the best of Brandon Saad yet.’’ Saad had 19 goals and 28 assists in 78 games for Chicago last season. Jul 19 |
| 3 | Bryan Bickell ActiveThe Chicago Cubs, hoping that they can live up to the Blackhawks' success, invited several players from the hockey team to Wrigley Field for batting practice. "Is that the hope for us here? Absolutely," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. "The process of turning anything around may seem daunting, but you keep chipping away and it would be great for the Cubs to be a part of that championship landscape." The Blackhawks have become a source of immense pride for Chicago over the past several years. Even though the Blackhawks were unable to successfully defend the Stanley Cup in 2014, Bryan Bickell said he still hears from fans about how proud they are that the Blackhawks battled back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference Final. Jun 8 |
| 4 | Peter Regin ActivePeter Regin hopes to play a bigger role in 2014-15 than he had after being acquired by Chicago in February. Regin signed a one-year, $650,000 contract with the Blackhawks. "It's up to me that prove that I belong in the lineup every night," Regin said. "That's kind of all I've been asking is to get a shot and I think with a full season it's going to benefit my chances." He had four goals and 11 points in 61 games last season. Jul 2 |
| RW | 1 | Patrick Kane ActiveArguing that Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews' matching eight-year, $84 million extensions aren't excessive, agent Pat Brisson claimed that they could have gotten $13.8 million annually if they so desired. That's probably true, because the Chicago Blackhawks were negotiating from a weak position. Kane and Toews have restored credibility to the Blackhawks and the team was in a position where they were basically going to cave into whatever demands the duo made. However, Brisson used that as an argument to suggest that Kane and Toews gave Chicago a hometown discount in an effort to keep their team together, which is pushing it. Kane and Toews chose to make themselves the two highest paid players in terms of cap hit by a significant margin so while they probably could have gotten even more, their demands were still high enough to hurt Chicago's competitive edge. That said, they were under no obligation to make life easy on the Blackhawks in the first place. After all, they've been successful and it's their right to cash in. Jul 17 |
| 2 | Marian Hossa ActiveMarian Hossa had a minus-two rating in Chicago's 5-2 loss to Los Angeles in Game 4. Chicago is now down 3-1 in the Western Conference Final. Hossa has been great in the playoffs with two goals and 14 points in 16 contests, but the Kings have held him to just one assist over the last three contests. Hossa isn't the only one they've neutralized over the span of their three-game winning streak, but he is nevertheless one of the big ones that Chicago needs to step up. May 27 |
| 3 | Kris Versteeg ActiveChicago's hoping for more out of Kris Versteeg in 2014-15. Versteeg was listed as a healthy scratch for four games during the playoffs and logged just 3:44 minutes of ice time in Game 7 of the Western Conference Final. He got off to the campaign on the wrong foot because of a knee injury that he spent his summer recovering from, but he's healthy going into the 2014 offseason. Jun 3 |
| 4 | Ben Smith ActiveBen Smith has inked a two-year extension with the Chicago Blackhawks. Smith would have become a restricted free agent this summer. The defensive forward had 14 goals and 12 assists in 75 games in 2013-14. Jun 27 |
| 5 | Jeremy Morin ActiveJeremy Morin is expected to stay on Chicago's roster next season. "Jeremy has been patient with us," GM Stan Bowman said. "I know sometimes it's tough to spend a couple of years in the minors when you're an NHL-ready player. Give him credit, he really has done everything we've asked him to. The only thing that missing was an opportunity. Now, we're giving him that opportunity. He's going to be on the team." He skated in 24 games with the Blackhawks last season. Chicago won't be bringing back Michal Handzus and Brandon Bollig was traded, so there are openings for Morin. Jun 30 |
| D | 1 | Duncan Keith ActiveDuncan Keith was awarded his second career James Norris Trophy Tuesday as the NHL's top defenseman. The Chicago blueliner experienced a fantastic season in 2013-14 and beat out Boston's Zdeno Chara and Nashville's Shea Weber for the honor. Minnesota's Ryan Suter and the Blues' Alex Pietrangelo rounded out the top five vote-getters for the award. Jun 24 |
| 2 | Brent Seabrook ActiveBrent Seabrook is looking to do more after being on the ice for both of the Kings' power-play goals in Game 4. "I've got to be better," Seabrook said. "It doesn't just start with the penalty kill. It's in every facet of the game. I think we've all got to be out there doing things that are going to make us win a game. I think some things happened last game that are uncharacteristic [of us], but I'd say you've got to give L.A. credit. They're forcing us into different situations, but we've got to be better and we will be better." Los Angeles has a 3-1 series lead going into Game 5 on Wednesday. Seabrook has no points and a minus-one rating in the Western Conference Final. May 28 |
| 3 | Niklas Hjalmarsson ActiveNiklas Hjalmarsson, who has been a rock on the Blackhawk blueline, believes that the Western Conference finals had to be decided by a Game 7. Hjalmarsson is looking forward to Sunday's contest indicating this is why he plays hockey. "I really think this series deserved a Game 7, and I think the crowd deserved it, too. And I think it's going to be a great finish to a great series," Hjalmarsson said. "Hopefully we'll be the winner out of this one, but it's been some really good hockey that's been playing in these games, definitely." As we've said before, don't miss this one. It starts at 8:00 pm ET. Jun 1 |
| 4 | Nick Leddy ActiveNick Leddy netted his first goal of the playoffs on Wednesday. He scored on a pretty backhander on a breakaway to open the scoring in the first period. The marker was his first in 27 games, dating back to the regular season. Leddy has four points and 13 shots in 13 postseason contests. The Blackhawks ended up losing the match 6-2, so their series with the Kings is tied at 1-1 going to Los Angeles. May 22 |
| 5 | Johnny Oduya ActiveIt turns out that Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya broke his right foot blocking a shot from the point late in the third period of Game 7 of the Western Conference final against the Los Angeles Kings. He kept playing in overtime anyway, logging three shifts. Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said Oduya might not have been able to play if his team had beaten the Kings and moved on to the Stanley Cup championship series. Jul 19 |
| 6 | Michal Rozsival ActiveMichal Rozsival recorded an assist in a 4-3 loss to Los Angeles on Saturday. Rozsival has a goal and five points in 13 postseason contests. He also has a minus-one rating so far in the playoffs and one of just five Chicago players to have a negative rating after playing in at least 10 contests. May 25 |
| 7 | Sheldon Brookbank ActiveSheldon Brookbank still has interest in returning to the Chicago Blackhawks if a slot opens up for him. The Blackhawks would likely only do that if they trade away a defenseman in a cap-saving measure. They currently have seven blueliners inked to one-way deals. Meanwhile, Brookbank is investigating his other options. Jul 17 |
| 8 | David Rundblad ActiveDavid Rundblad will make his Chicago debut Sunday night in Buffalo. Rundblad has skated in just 50 NHL games during his career and he's suited up in 12 games this campaign. He doesn't have any fantasy value yet. Mar 8 |
| G | 1 | Corey Crawford ActiveCorey Crawford should have an easy time adjusting to goalie coach Jimmy Waite seeing as he used to work with Jimmy's brother, Stephane. Jimmy Waite is replacing Steve Weeks as the team's goalie coach. "I'm my own person, but we do think the same way about goaltending," Jimmy said. "For 20 years, we've been talking goalies all the time, so Stephane and I think the same way." Jimmy places an emphasis on positioning and being selective about when the goaltender is aggressive. Jul 21 |
| 2 | Antti Raanta ActiveThe Chicago Blackhawks have inked Antti Raanta to a two-year contract extension. Raanta had a 2.71 GAA and .897 save percentage in 25 games with Chicago in 2013-14. He was originally expected to spend the season in the minors, but he moved up in the depth charts because Nikolai Khabibulin spent most of the campaign on the sidelines. This time around, Raanta will enter the season as Chicago's clear backup. Jun 27 |