Chicago Blackhawks 15 Best Contracts (2005-2022)

This was originally published in my 2020 book Hunting Bargains in a Salary Cap World, and has now been updated with new contracts. I will continue to update each team’s list every summer going forward. The rule is that only active contracts can move up or down. Expired deals cannot pass each other. Next summer it may even be expanded to top 20. The book is still available on Amazon, though some of the stats on active contracts are now out of date. You may yet find it interesting because there were detailed stat graphics that you won't find here. One thing you won't find here are entry level contracts because they all come from the same cookie cutter and require less skill at the negotiating table.

My latest book The Hockey Economist’s Betting Prospectus is now available. It's a comprehensive commentary on the last 3 years of hockey betting, broken down by team, by category, by strategy, by season. There is plenty of useful information for bettors of all skill levels. It covers pre-pandemic, peak-pandemic, post-pandemic. What worked, what failed. Lessons learned, market trends, team-by-team analysis. What impact did the pandemic have on hockey betting? The market differences between these 3 seasons are discussed at length, and there's a lot to talk about. To read more, visit the Amazon store.
 
Enjoy! Please note: The formatting on the graphics got scrambled being copied from Excel into Google Blogger. It's among the reasons my blog is looking for a new home.

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Dale Tallon had spent 4 years building the Chicago Blackhawks roster into a championship contender when he was fired after the 2009 season. His replacement Stan Bowman took control of the team and reaped the ultimate glory one year later. Dale might have lost his job, but his fingerprints were still on trophies, metaphorically anyway.
 
Stan twould take the stewardship and run with it, completing a run of 3 Stanley Cups over a 5-year period. It wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops though, as tough moves had to be made in order to for the dynasty to be cap compliant (some regrettable in retrospect). There was a constant exodus of key pieces, but the core was the root of their triumph.
 
The three most important players in this dynasty have been Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith, but it’s plausible that none of those titles happen without Marian Hossa. This list you’re about to read is a celebration of this dynasty, and helps explain how the pieces came together.
 
 
1. Jonathan Toews
 

Signed By:	Stan Bowman		Position:	F
Date:	2009-12-03		Age July 1st:	22
Term:	5 years		Playoff GP:	78
Total Money:	$31.5M		Playoff PTS:	60
Cap Hit:	$6.3M		Stanley Cups:	2

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	40.5	343	315	946
Per 82 GP	8.1	82	75	226	20.2

"To me it's not about the business side and all of that stuff. I'm just happy to know that I'll be part of the organization for a while longer and hopefully much longer after that"

– Jonathan Toews

Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane both signed extensions in December before their entry level contracts were set to expire. They were also signed 7 months before the Chicago Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup since 1961 with Toews winning the Conn Smythe, which certainly would have given the duo more bargaining leverage. Toews and Kane signed for identical term and salary on the same day, earning more than Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry in 2007, but less than Anze Kopitar in 2008.
 
Few investments have yielded better results, producing 2 Stanley Cups, a Selke trophy, and a regular season stat line of 343 GP, 315 PTS (75 PTS per 82 GP), 946 shots, 4002 face-off wins, 16 short handed PTS, and +126 rating. That’s awesome. Captain Serious also scored 60 PTS in 78 playoff GP. He plays in all situations, with the game on the line, and has an abundance of leadership ability. That’s why he was named team captain at age 20. Jonathan hit the jackpot on his next contract.
 
 
2. Patrick Kane
 

Signed By:	Stan Bowman		Position:	F
Date:	2009-12-03		Age July 1st:	21
Term:	5 years		Playoff GP:	78
Total Money:	$31.5M		Playoff PTS:	72
Cap Hit:	$6.3M		Stanley Cups:	2

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	40.5	332	327	1020
Per 82 GP	8.1	82	81	252	19.8

“For all of us it would have been kind of weird walking around the dressing room if you had signed and the other two guys had not or if two of you were signed and the other wasn't. I think it's even more special."

– Patrick Kane

While Toews and Kane signed identical contracts, they are very different players. Kane might have had a case that he’s worth more money than his captain, given a much higher offensive ceiling. But centers (and captains for that matter) tend to be worth more than wingers, which does help balance their worth. Kane would go on to score 88 PTS in 82 GP in the final year of his ELC, adding 28 more PTS in the playoffs. Had Patrick been a restricted free agent that summer after winning the Stanley Cup, he absolutely would have been able to procure an offer sheet for damned near any price he wanted.
 
Even at this “discounted” salary, Chicago winning the Stanley Cup nailed some individual bonus clauses that put them significantly over the salary cap the following season, forcing some difficult personnel decisions. The cap crunch forced Stan Bowman to dismantle part of the championship roster, but there’s a 0% chance that the thought of trading Patrick Kane even crossed his mind.
 
The first 2 years of this deal were unspectacular, producing 73 and 66-point seasons, but in 2013 Patty was incredible, potting 55 PTS in 47 GP in the regular season, adding 19 PTS in the playoffs, winning another Cup and being named playoff MVP. Injuries softened his contribution over the final 2 years, but not so much that they couldn’t collect another championship.
 
 
3. Duncan Keith
 

Signed By:	Dale Tallon		Position:	D
Date:	2006-07-13		Age July 1st:	22
Term:	4 years		Playoff GP:	39
Total Money:	$5.9M		Playoff PTS:	23
Cap Hit:	$1.48M		Stanley Cups:	1

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	9.5	323	176	656
Per 82 GP	2.4	82	45	167	25.3

"You know things are going to change when you win the Cup, the way our cap situation was. It's too bad it had to be like this, but at the same time we've got to start looking forward. When these things do happen, I'm sure there might be some more, and it's not going to be fun.”

– Duncan Keith

Duncan Keith was due a new contract at the end of his rookie season in 2006 after scoring 21 PTS in 81 GP. The young defenseman had not fully developed the offensive side of his game, but was already being relied upon to log a heavy workload, 23.4 minutes per game. He would agree to a very similar wage and term as Zbynek Michalek and Rostislav Klesla signed for 3 months earlier, but unlike his comparables, Duncan’s career trajectory was on the verge of blasting off into orbit.
 
By year three he was playing over 25 minutes per game, generating 44 PTS. Keith saved his best performance for the final year, scoring 69 PTS in the regular season, 17 PTS in the playoffs, winning the Stanley Cup and the Norris trophy. He finished this +84.
 
 
4. Marian Hossa
 

Signed By:	Dale Tallon		Position:	F
Date:	2009-07-01		Age July 1st:	30
Term:	12 years		Playoff GP:	107
Total Money:	$63.3M		Playoff PTS:	73
Cap Hit:	$5.28M		Stanley Cups:	3

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	75.6	534	415	1614
Per 82 GP	6.3	82	64	248	18.5

"The Marian Hossa contract is a legitimate contract that was approved by the NHL. We are not at all concerned by the investigation and are confident the NHL will conclude that there is absolutely no evidence that the Blackhawks intended to circumvent the salary cap."

– Chicago Blackhawks

In 2008 Marian Hossa made the ultimate “bet on yourself” contract at age 29, choosing a 1-year deal with the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. His agent had to be telling him he was crazy, as a serious injury or performance regression could have cost him tens of millions of dollars. His desire to win a championship was overriding common sense. Yet the bet paid off, at least financially (the Red Wings lost in the final), hitting the jackpot in free agency the following summer.
 
This was among the infamous (but now illegal) category of back-diving deal, giving a player term far longer than he’s expected to play, front-loading the money.  Then the player can retire early, having already banked most of the cash. The investment could not have gone better for Chicago, winning 3 Stanley Cups, the only contract in the salary cap era that won 3 Cups over its duration.
 
Hossa was a very consistent point generator (415 in the regular season and 73 more in the playoffs) on top of being one of the best defensive players in the league, who some have argued should have received more Selke trophy consideration in his career.
 
The 2013 CBA resulted in a new “cap recapture” penalty that would retroactively punish teams for doing something that was entirely legal at the time. That punishment for cap circumvention would never come to pass in this case, as Stan Bowman found a loophole announced in 2017 that Marian gets a rash from his hockey equipment and that would prevent him from ever competing again, allowing the team to stash him on Long Term Injured Reserve. Coincidently enough, that just happened to be the same year that his base salary dropped to $1M. He was later shipped to the Coyotes.
 
 
5. Duncan Keith
 

Signed By:	Stan Bowman		Position:	D
Date:	2009-12-03		Age July 1st:	26
Term:	13 years		Playoff GP:	108
Total Money:	$72M		Playoff PTS:	64
Cap Hit:	$5.5M		Stanley Cups:	2

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	82.5	852	449	1736
Per 82 GP	6.3	82	43	167	24.5

"He's kind of a freak as far as his metabolism and conditioning level. Just certain guys genetically, aerobically, anaerobically, they can sustain it."

– Joel Quenneville

It sounds strange to say that guy who got paid $72M left money on the table, but that’s exactly what happened here. Duncan Keith had not yet won any Norris trophies or Stanley Cups, registering only a single season with more than 40 PTS, when he inked this extension in Dec 2009 (the same day as Toews and Kane). He was however, 2 months into a Norris Trophy season, so Stan Bowman had extraordinary confidence he was making a safe investment.
 
Keith had already proved to be a great skater who could handle an extremely heavy work load. It’s normally an enormous risk to sign anyone to age 39, but Keith had already displayed athleticism at the high end of the human endurance scale.
 
The 69 PTS he scored in 2009 would prove to be his offensive peak at age 26, but he sustained an elite level of play and enormous workload well past his 30th birthday. This contract won 2 Stanley Cups and another Norris trophy. Keith played an obscene number of minutes in the 2015 playoffs, logging over an hour of ice time more than any other player, and was named playoff MVP.
 
 
6. Patrick Kane
 

Signed By:	Stan Bowman		Position:	F
Date:	2014-07-09		Age July 1st:	26
Term:	8 years		Playoff GP:	16
Total Money:	$84M		Playoff PTS:	14
Cap Hit:	$10.5M		Stanley Cups:	0

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	88.8	531	623	1958
Per 82 GP	11.1	82	96	302	21.4

"Playing with the best organization in sports and the best fans in the game is a blessing. Since I was drafted by the Blackhawks, the people of Chicago have really embraced me and treated me with nothing but respect. I look forward to many more years of success with the Blackhawks."

– Patrick Kane

This Blackhawks dynasty won their 3^rd Stanley Cup in the final year of Toews and Kane previous contracts, and have not won a playoff series since. Once again, the duo inked identical deals, but fortunately for Chicago, Kane has aged more gracefully than Toews, registering a career high 110 PTS in 2019 after his 30th birthday.
 
While Patty was a point-per-game player on his previous ticket when he should have been at his peak output, he’s actually been far better than that on this treaty, scoring 96 PTS per 82 GP through the first 5 years. While Toews twin contract has drawn criticism from hockey prognosticators, nobody has been complaining about Kane, who has been among the league leading scorers over this span.
 
 
7. Brent Seabrook
 

Signed By:	Stan Bowman		Position:	D
Date:	2011-02-27		Age July 1st:	26
Term:	5 years		Playoff GP:	75
Total Money:	$29M		Playoff PTS:	35
Cap Hit:	$5.8M		Stanley Cups:	2

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	36.0	370	175	718
Per 82 GP	7.2	82	39	159	22.8

“I’m not sure he’s reached his potential yet. His best years, he’s coming right into them right now and that factored into it. He’s still only 25 years old. Looking at defencemen in particular, they hit their stride between 25 and 30 and that’s what this contract covers.”

– Stan Bowman

Brent Seabrook has received such generous scorn for having one of the worst contracts in the NHL since 2018, that many people may have started to overlook what he did to earn that massive pay day. He had established himself as a cornerstone of the Blackhawks blueline, logging over 24 minutes per game and scoring 48 PTS in the final year of his previous pact.
 
The part that’s confusing is why he only accepted a 5-year term expiring at age 31 when he could have been UFA in a year. It seems unlikely that he would have done that without some assurance that there was a lottery ticket waiting for him when this was finished. Stan Bowman should have made this Seabrook’s last contract at 8-10 years term, at a time when the back-dive was still legal. Making this a bridge to a bigger pay day at age 31 feels like a colossal error in judgement.
 
Whatever Seabrook was told to convince him to autograph this agreement, there is no disputing that it produced fantastic results. They got 2 Stanley Cups with a regular season stat line of 370 GP, 175 PTS (39 PTS per 82 GP), 718 Shots, 731 Hits, and a +59. He also averaged 22.8 minutes of ice time and contributed 35 PTS in 75 playoff GP. Perhaps Bowman wasn’t planning on that massive extension that came next until after those championships. Maybe Seabrook was just so eager to stay on this championship roster that he was willing to sign whatever piece of paper the GM put in front of him.
 
 
8. Patrick Sharp
 

Signed By:	Dale Tallon		Position:	F
Date:	2008-01-17		Age July 1st:	26
Term:	4 years		Playoff GP:	52
Total Money:	$15.6M		Playoff PTS:	39
Cap Hit:	$3.9M		Stanley Cups:	1

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	21.8	291	250	1000
Per 82 GP	5.4	82	70	282	18.9

"His play and his attitude have been outstanding and he has taken on a real leadership role with our team. We feel that Patrick is an integral part of the future of our team."

– Dale Tallon

Patrick Sharp was on his way to a breakout season with 62 PTS and 36 tucks, when Dale Tallon locked him up to a 4-year extension in January. The late bloomer would have been eligible for unrestricted free agency in one year, but punted his prime earnings window to stay with a team that had not made the playoffs in his 3-year Hawks tenure.
 
By year two he blossomed into a shot generating machine, who scored 66 regular season PTS and 22 more in the playoffs on the road to winning the Stanley Cup. He finished this contract with a regular season stat line of 291 GP, 118 snipes, 250 PTS (70 PTS per 82 GP), and 1000 shots. Stan Bowman rewarded him with a 5-year deal at age 30 that won 2 more championships.
 
 
9. Corey Crawford
 

Signed By:	Stan Bowman		Position:	G
Date:	2013-09-02		Age July 1st:	29
Term:	6 years		Playoff Wins:	16
Total Money:	$36M		Playoff SV%:	0.917
Cap Hit:	$6M		Stanley Cups:	1

 

	Avg Adj Cap Hit	GP	W	GAA	SV%
Total	6.6	277	145	2.51	0.920

"I'm on a bit of a high right now and hopefully I don't come down from it"

– Corey Crawford

Corey Crawford signed this extension in September following an outstanding 2013 season that saw him win 19 of 28 starts with a .926 SV% in a lockout shortened regular schedule, then get even better in the playoffs, winning 16 games with a .932 SV%, hoisting the Stanley Cup.
 
In year one of this contract, Corey recorded another outstanding year, winning another Cup with a .924 SV%. He provided steady reliable top tier goaltending for the first half of the deal before concussion issues derailed the back half. For the most part, he was very effective when healthy; in 277 GP he notched 145 wins, 103 losses, with a 2.51 GAA, .920 SV%, and 61 goals saved above average. He left for New Jersey when this expired, upsetting Jonathan Toews.
 
 
10. Artemi Panarin
 

Signed By:	Stan Bowman		Position:	F
Date:	2016-12-28		Age July 1st:	25
Term:	2 years		Playoff GP:	16
Total Money:	$12M		Playoff PTS:	18
Cap Hit:	$6M		Stanley Cups:	0

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	12.8	160	169	419
Per 82 GP	6.4	82	87	215	20.0

"He's had a great season and a half that he's been here, and he's proven himself as one of the most dynamic players in the league. It's a great day to be a Blackhawk and a Hawks fan."

– Patrick Kane

It was truly a great day to be a Blackhawks fan when Stan Bowman secured Artemi Panarin’s autograph on this 2-year bridge deal, at a similar price to Filip Forsberg a few months earlier.. The Russian winger quickly established himself as a dynamic offensive player from the day he arrived in North America, helping to unlock a new level of Patrick Kane.
 
It was a much less exciting day for Hawk fans when Panarin was traded 6 months later before a single game of this treaty had been played, in a move to re-acquire Brandon Saad. Panarin was going to be UFA in 2 years whereas Saad was under contract for 4 more years. Panarin was widely regarded as a better player than Saad, but Bowman wanted the extra 2 years of team control (at a time when their championship window appeared firmly shut).
 
Panarin took his game to an even higher level in Columbus, scoring 169 PTS in 160 GP, plus an addition 18 PTS in 16 playoff GP. He won the lottery on July 1st 2019, signing a monster deal with the New York Rangers.
 
 
11. Alex DeBrincat
 

Signed By:	Stan Bowman		Position:	F
Date:	2019-10-23		Age July 1st:	22
Term:	3 years		Playoff GP:	0
Total Money:	$19.2M		Playoff PTS:	0
Cap Hit:	$6.4M		Stanley Cups:	0

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	19.4	134	134	425
Per 82 GP	6.5	82	82	260	20.7

“I didn't want to wait. I didn’t want to be waiting around like a lot of the RFAs this year so it’s good to have it done, focus on the season, be a good team and win some games.”

-Alex DeBrincat

Alex DeBrincat signed an early October extension after scoring at a 76-point pace in the second year of his ELC, then proceeded to drop down to a 53-point pace before this deal even started. Had Chicago waited until the summer, they might have been able to get him a cheaper price, but that’s a moot point considering his scoring rate would more than recover and the deal would become a bargain.
 
The Chicago Blackhawks best contract list is a tough nut to crack with all those Stanley Cups, so credit DeBrincat for climbing even this high. He scored at an 82-point pace for the first two seasons, but a lot of the credit for that impressive output may go to Patrick Kane. Alex was traded to Ottawa with one year remaining, so the question of how good is DeBrincat without Kane will be answered soon.
 
 
12. Erik Gustafsson
 

Signed By:	Stan Bowman		Position:	D
Date:	2018-03-06		Age July 1st:	26
Term:	2 years		Playoff GP:	6
Total Money:	$2.4M		Playoff PTS:	1
Cap Hit:	$1.2M		Stanley Cups:	0

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	2.5	145	89	263
Per 82 GP	1.2	82	50	149	21.6

“Our needs … you know when you go to the grocery store and you have no milk, but then you get some milk before you go to the grocery store and now you run out of soup and you only have 10 bucks to spend? Well … you buy the soup because you have the milk.”

– Brad Treliving

Erik Gustafsson split his 2018 season between the NHL and AHL, showing the potential for a high offensive ceiling in his major league audition scoring 16 PTS in 35 GP, averaging 18.5 minutes per game. The Swedish defenseman could have been an unrestricted free agent in 1-year, but was undoubtedly thrilled to be offered a 2-year deal at $1.2M AAV.
 
It quickly became clear that he had sold himself short, showing an astonishing improvement in year one, scoring 60 PTS (with 17 tucks), playing 22.6 minutes per game. The Blackhawks got an $8M defenseman for $1.2M. This would rank higher up the list for most teams, but the franchise has produced so many Cup winners that he’s stuck at 11th. The second season did see a drop in output, with the Hawks only getting a 3rd round draft pick when they sold him as a rental to Calgary. Afterwards he signed a 1-year deal with Philly.
 
 
13. Patrick Sharp
 

Signed By:	Stan Bowman		Position:	F
Date:	2011-08-03		Age July 1st:	30
Term:	5 years		Playoff GP:	78
Total Money:	$29.5M		Playoff PTS:	47
Cap Hit:	$5.9M		Stanley Cups:	2

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	35.7	302	214	1003
Per 82 GP	7.1	82	58	272	17.6

"Patrick is a very important member of our organization and we are looking forward to him being part of a core group that will be a contender for many years to come"

– Stan Bowman

Unlike Patrick Sharp’s previous contract, this one ranked low on the “bargain scale”. The winger was handsomely compensated and struggled to stay healthy. He produced one solid regular season with 34 goals and 78 PTS at age 31 in 2014, substantially underperforming his pay grade in the other 4 regular seasons.
 
But this contract did not crack the list because of what happened in the regular season. This investment produced maximum dividends in the playoffs, with 2 Stanley Cups (Patty contributed 15 playoff goals and 31 PTS on those 2 runs). After the 2nd Cup in 2015, the Hawks could no longer fit Sharp under the salary cap, shipping him off to Dallas with Stephen Johns for Trevor Daley and Ryan Garbutt. Sharp had one decent season in Dallas, after which he fell off a cliff.
 
When this was complete, Sharp returned to the Blackhawks for one more season at close to the league minimum before calling it a career.
 
 
14. Brent Seabrook
 

Signed By:	Dale Tallon		Position:	D
Date:	2008-02-18		Age July 1st:	23
Term:	3 years		Playoff GP:	44
Total Money:	$10.5M		Playoff PTS:	24
Cap Hit:	$3.5M		Stanley Cups:	1

 

	Adj Cap Hit	GP	PTS	SOG	ATOI
Total	15.0	242	104	396
Per 82 GP	5.0	82	35	134	23.6

"He is going to be a major part of our success for many years to come."

– Dale Tallon

Brent Seabrook graduated the WHL as a fully formed NHL player and former first round draft pick, playing just 3 games in the AHL during the 2005 lockout before becoming a full-time major leaguer in 2006. While the team struggled over his first 3 seasons, Seabrook established himself as a 2-way force, averaging close to 30-points per season. It was enough to procure a good price on a 3-year bridge.
 
Once this contract started, the 6’3 220 lb defenseman’s ice time climbed over 23 minutes per game, also dishing out his 3 highest annual hit totals during this span (the only 3 times he surpassed 200 hits). In year two the team won the Stanley Cup, by year 3 Seabrook popped 48 PTS.
 
 
15. Antti Niemi
 

Signed By:	Dale Tallon		Position:	G
Date:	2009-06-30		Age July 1st:	25
Term:	1 year		Playoff Wins:	16
Total Money:	$827K		Playoff SV%:	0.910
Cap Hit:	$827K		Stanley Cups:	1

 

	Avg Adj Cap Hit	GP	W	GAA	SV%
Total	1.2	39	26	2.25	0.912

“Antti’s play last season speaks for itself.”

– Doug Wilson

Antti Niemi was an undrafted free agent who came to North America at age 25 from the Finnish Elite League, playing most of his first year in Rockford of the AHL. He received a 1-year “show me” deal for $827K. Betting on himself proved to be a smart wager, as he won a roster spot by opening night and would eventually supplant Cristobal Huet as the primary starter when Huet’s quality of play plummeted.
 
Niemi finished the regular season with 26 wins, only 7 losses, and a .912 SV%. He finished the playoffs with 16 wins and a .910 SV%, going into arbitration as a Stanley Cup champion. The arbitrator awarded him 1 year at $2.75M and Stan Bowman decided the team couldn’t afford him and walked away. Niemi found a new home in San Jose for 1-year $2M.