Chicago Blackhawks: Dominik Kubalik contract is well deserved

The Chicago Blackhawks extended Dominik Kubalik to a very good contract.

The Chicago Blackhawks saw Dominik Kubalik come in and have a fantastic rookie season. It was so good that he came in third place for the NHL’s Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie. He became only the fifth player in the history of the Chicago Blackhawks to have 30 goals as a rookie. As a result, they gave him a two-year contract extension with an average annual value of 3.7 million dollars per year.

This is the type of deal that you would consider good for both parties involved. It is good for Kubalik because he now has 7.4 million dollars coming his way over two years with a chance to prove he is worth even more. If he continues to score upwards of 30 goals, he will get a significant raise two years from now.

It is also a good deal for the Blackhawks because most 30 goal scorers cost a whole lot more than that. He is only the sixth highest-paid forward on the Blackhawks as of right now and he is one of their best players already. It is also good for the Hawks if things go south as well. If he shows that 2019-20 was a “one-hit wonder” type of year, they can walk away from him after the two years or potentially leave him exposed to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft.

If he can continue to score and improve his game, he will be a part of the core that the Chicago Blackhawks are trying to build. They already have key pieces in Kirby Dach, Alex DeBrincat, and Adam Boqvist in the lineup and with Kubalik, that is the start of a really nice core. The hope is that they can all grow together and take the reigns from guys like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith.

Kubalik makes his money by using his ability to score. Of course, he has a great shot and uses it well but he can also get to the front of the net and score goals that way as well. It was just his first year in the NHL so there is also time to improve the other parts of his game while building on what he did offensively. This is a great player that the Blackhawks are lucky to have.

The extension of Kubalik isn’t the only move they made on Friday. It was the beginning of the unrestricted free agency period but they locked in a few of their own guys instead. They gave Malcolm Subban an extension of his own the day after they announced that they won’t be resigning Corey Crawford. He is getting 850 thousand over the next two years. It could be a Seattle move but he is going to get a chance to prove himself. Hopefully, these deals work out for the Blackhawks in the end.