Chicago Blackhawks are buying out two of their NHL players

The Chicago Blackhawks are clearly emptying the tank. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are still there which makes things exciting but the Hawks are resetting the whole thing. They also have Seth Jones who might be hard to trade but you never know.

Right before or at the 2022 NHL Draft, they traded away Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach for draft picks. Kyle Davidson is clearly a man with a plan that wants to shake things up for his new team. The next phase of his plan is beginning.

On Monday, it became clear that the Hawks were placing both Henrik Borgstrom and Brett Connoly on waivers for the purpose of a buyout. They are clearly trying to get rid of any contracts that don’t (or won’t) help their team in the long term.

It isn’t that surprising to hear it about Connoly as he is a 30-year-old player that hasn’t aged past his 20s gracefully. He also hasn’t been very healthy in recent years, making him a hard player to pay.

The Chicago Blackhawks are cutting ties with a lot of different players right now.

In the case of Henrik Borgstrom, however, it is a bit interesting to see this move. He was a first-round draft pick by a Florida Panthers team that has done a great job developing picks like that in recent memory. He is a highly-skilled forward that is still only 24 years old.

The Hawks are going to be so bad in 2022-23 that you would think that they give him a chance to play a lot and see what they have in him. Unfortunately, that isn’t going to be the case for him as they have apparently seen enough.

Part of this could be because of the recapture penalty that they are being given because of Duncan Keith’s retirement. A 5-plus million dollar cap hit will hit them in 2022-23 and a 1-plus million hit will get them the following year.

It isn’t that devastating because they are rebuilding but they clearly need to make some moves like this in order to get a full roster iced next year.  Seeing these two go isn’t all that fun (especially the young Borgstrom) but Davidson clearly sees it as a necessary move.