Chicago Blackhawks: Three non-tendered players to consider

The Chicago Blackhawks just traded Olli Maatta to the Los Angeles Kings over the past few days. They originally got him by trading Dominik Kahun to the Pittsburgh Penguins last summer. Pittsburgh then flipped him to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Evan Rodrigues and Conor Sheary. Now, Buffalo has given him a non-tender so he can go wherever he wants to go if there is interest.

The Hawks might be smart to try and bring back Kahun. It was a bad idea to trade him for Olli Maatta anyway so they can sort of redeeming themselves if they add him back in. He can provide the type of depth they need more than most of their other options right now. He won’t ever move the needle as some other younger players in the organization will but he can certainly help.

It is strange to see Buffalo let him go for nothing. They aren’t good and haven’t been for a long time so it makes a little sense that they might want to move on from a lot of people but this was a weird one. Last season, split between Pittsburgh and Buffalo, he had 12 goals and 19 assists for 31 points in 56 games. He also had a CorsiFor of 50 percent even and was a plus-eight. He can handle himself in all three zones and that is just what the Hawks need from their bottom six players.

There is no guarantee that the Hawks will look at any of these guys but they should. They can all provide a unique skill that would be beneficial to the Hawks. They certainly can’t afford all three obviously but they can afford to better their team in certain ways.