Draft finished, qualifying RFAs is Blackhawks’ next offseason task
Stan Bowman will have decisions to make on Gustav Forsling, David Kampf and Anton Forsberg, among others.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The first element of the NHL’s summer free agency masquerade climaxes Tuesday with the qualifying offer deadline for restricted free agents.
In layman’s terms, teams must submit offers to its RFAs — players under age 26 with expiring contracts — generally equivalent to each player’s prior contract in order to prevent such RFAs from shifting status to unrestricted free agents come July 1.
Following the draft, qualifying offers are the next item on all 31 general managers’ agendas, and it’s no different for Stan Bowman and Blackhawks: the team has 11 RFA situations, including three who played in the NHL full-time last season, to resolve.
“There’s a couple guys we’re still deciding between,” the GM said Saturday at the draft. “That’s kind of the next order of business after today.”
The full list of pending RFAs is as follows: forwards Brendan Perlini, David Kampf, Dylan Sikura, newly acquired John Quenneville, Anthony Louis, Victor Ejdsell, Luke Johnson and Spencer Watson; defensemen Gustav Forsling and Blake Hillman; goaltender Anton Forsberg.
Perlini will be brought back. The 23-year-old showed some streaky promise in 2018-19 and Bowman said outright that he intends to qualify and re-sign the other piece of the Strome-Schmaltz trade.
“He’s a streaky goal scorer, [but] he still ended up with 14 goals even though he didn’t get going right away with us,” Bowman said. “There’s a lot of guys who never get 14 in the whole year, so he’s got that unique ability to put the puck in the net. I think there’s a lot more there.”
Sikura, who the coaching staff has highlighted as a player they’re optimistic can make a jump in 2019-20, will get another shot, too.
Kampf will also likely return — his performance last season justified a new extension, and he’s only 24. The only potential dilemma will be that he’s required to receive a one-way offer in order to be successfully qualified, as he played three games more than the 60-match threshold for that requirement, but it shouldn’t be a big issue given that he’ll probably make the Hawks roster regardless.
The most intriguing decisions involve Forsling, Forsberg and Quenneville.
Forsling, despite playing at least 38 NHL games each of the last three years, can still be tendered a two-way QO. Nonetheless, the 23-year-old Swede could be the odd man out in an increasingly crowded defensive group.
Bowman adeptly evaded a question on Saturday about Forsling’s future.
Quenneville, the return from the Devils in the John Hayden trade, was probably chosen for the trade actually because of his RFA status — Hayden, conversely, had a year left on a binding one-way contract. Yet Bowman said he does plan to sign the former first-round pick.
Forsberg actually had a great .919 save percentage in the AHL last season, but with Collin Delia earning the permanent NHL backup position moving forward, the Hawks will probably let him move on to a better opportunity elsewhere. Whether that comes via not issuing a QO, or filing one and then trading his rights later in summer, remains to be determined.
The remaining RFAs are minor-leaguers at this point, and although some (particularly Watson and Hillman) could be victims of the Hawks’ pursuit of wiggle room within the 50-contract limit, their qualification or lack thereof won’t make much of a ripple either way.
The deadline is at 4 p.m. CT Tuesday.