News Blackhawks Team Notes

[Chicago Blackhawks]

Around the NHL: Benn Stays, Sharks Buy Out a Legend, Trades Start Flying, Coaching Buzz, More

The NHL continues to buzz as we get closer to the start of the 2025 NHL Draft on Friday evening. There have been signings, trades and some coaching news as Thursday has progressed. We’re doing our best to stay on top of everything!

In case you missed it, here’s our morning edition of Around the NHL:

Around the NHL: Peterka Traded, Draft Changes, a Longer Regular Season? CBA Updates, More #Blackhawks www.bleachernation.com/blackhawks/2…

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— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@bn-blackhawks.bsky.social) June 26, 2025 at 8:18 AM

• The Dallas Stars signed Jamie Benn to a one-year deal with a $1M cap hit and up to $3M in incentives.

• Elliotte Friedman tweeted Nikolaj Ehlers has informed the Jets he will go to free agency on July 1.

• The Florida Panthers acquired goaltender Daniil Tarasov from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for their fifth-round selection (160th overall) in the 2025 NHL Draft.

Several 1st round picks in play, especially with clubs with more than one. Pitt will move 11/12 for the right young player. Mtl would move 16/17. Habs need a top 6 F. Philly wants to keep 6, but will trade 22/31. Nashville has 5/23/26 and is still evaluating all options.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) June 26, 2025

• The Carolina Hurricanes signed Juha Jaaska to a two-year extension (two-way in year one, one-way in year two).

• The Minnesota Wild traded forward Frederick Gaudreau to the Kraken for a fourth-round pick in 2025 (No. 102).

• Michael Russo of The Athletic reports the Wild offered a package including Marco Rossi for JJ Peterka. He’s unclear if RHD David Jiricek was part of the deal.

• The San Jose Sharks announced they are buying out the final year of Marc-Édouard Vlasic’s contract.

years repping the Teal. Thank you, Marc-Édouard! pic.twitter.com/2WngLsKoad

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) June 26, 2025

• Frank Seravalli reported former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft will be joining Joel Quenneville’s staff as an assistant. It’s expected to be announced after July 1 when Woodcroft’s contract with Edmonton expires.

• Darren Dreger reported the Dallas Stars will finalize their head coaching hire soon. He tweeted Glen Gulutzan and Neil Graham are considered the finalists.

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/blac...egend-trades-start-flying-coaching-buzz-more/

 

[Chicago Blackhawks]

2025 NHL Draft: Live Blackhawks Coverage of Rounds 2-7 (UPDATES)

As we get rolling with the second day of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Blackhawks have six remaining selections. They no longer have a pick in the second round; they traded both of them to move up and pick Mason West at No. 29 on Friday night.

Here are the picks the Blackhawks own at the start of the second day of the draft:

Round 3 — No. 66 — Nathan Behm, RW
Round 4 — No. 98 — Julius Sumpf, C
Round 4 — No. 107 — Parker Holmes, LW
Round 6 — No. 162 — Ashton Cumby, LHD
Round 7 — No. 194 — Ilya Kanarsky, G
Round 7 — No. 197 — traded to Florida

We’ll update this space as the Blackhawks make their picks with info on each selection and any trades the Blackhawks make during the event.

• With the 66th overall selection in the third round of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks selected forward Nathan Behm.

our first day two pick pic.twitter.com/eRiREFuBdc

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) June 28, 2025

Nathan Behm, RW​

6-1.5, 203
DOB: 4-18-2007
Shoots: Right
2024-25 Team: Kamloops Blazers (WHL)

• Ranked #48 by Bleacher Nation
• Ranked #54 by Bob McKenzie
• Ranked #92 by Corey Pronman (The Athletic)
• Ranked #52 by Scott Wheeler (The Athletic)
• Ranked #45 by Craig Button
• Ranked #77 by Ryan Kennedy (THN)
• Ranked #94 by McKeen’s
• Ranked #63 by Chris Peters (FloHockey)
• Ranked #40 by Steven Ellis (Daily Faceoff)

Blackhawks get Nathan Behm with pick 66.

Fantastic value to get him there.

Big, youngish (April born), good production. Lots of these guys are often drafted in the back end of the 1st round (where they're good value there). To get him in the 3rd round… excellent value.

His… pic.twitter.com/8OucmDifoI

— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) June 28, 2025

“Behm was a highly effective scoring winger for Kamloops. His talent level stands out between his strong puck skills, offensive creativity and NHL athletic profile. Behm is a good-sized player who skates well and can create offense at quick tempos, displaying a style of game that should translate to higher levels.” — Corey Pronman

“I’ve had a tough time with him because I don’t think his skill level is dynamic/screams top-sixer; his off-puck play defensively needs some development and he needs to be more consistent in his competitiveness and physicality if he wants to become a bottom-sixer. But he’s also almost 6-foot-2 and over 190 pounds, he’s got a quick and natural release, good skill, he skates well enough (I like him on cuts/attacking on angles) and he gets open and finds his way onto chances around the slot with good instincts inside the offensive zone.” — Scott Wheeler

“Behm had a breakout season with the Blazers, which saw him finish with more than 30 goals and more than 60 points. He has always been a decent goal scorer at every level, but he has found a way to put more muscle behind his shot while being better defensively, too. His skating is still a work in progress – he’s not particularly quick and can be beaten by mid-range skaters.” — Steven Ellis

our first pick of the fourth round pic.twitter.com/qXrLcAOi1K

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) June 28, 2025

• With the 98th overall selection in the fourth round of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks selected center Julius Sumpf.

Julius Sumpf, C​

6-2, 194
DOB: 1-11-2005
Shoots: Left
2024-25 Team: Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)

• Ranked #127 by McKeen’s
• Ranked #160 by FC Hockey
• Ranked #115 (NA Skaters) by NHL Central Scouting

“Sumpf controls the game at a high level. Understanding spacing principles and manipulation, he constantly attacks gaps in the opposition coverage and times those drives with teammates’ plays. He then catches passes in movement and shifts it to space, using give-and-goes, hand-outs, and changes of lanes off the rush to force the opposition to adjust and break their formation. He reads defenders’ feet, makes plays counter to them, veils his intention, and consistently connects with teammates.” — EliteProspects 2025 NHL Draft Guide

hi Parker! pic.twitter.com/5aqZqn93bY

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) June 28, 2025

• With the 107th overall selection in the fourth round of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks selected .

Parker Holmes, LW​

6-4, 215
DOB: 3-8-2007
Shoots: Left
2024-25 Team: Brantford Bulldogs (OHL)

welcome to Chicago, Ashton! pic.twitter.com/kxeDmklotl

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) June 28, 2025

• With the 162nd overall selection in the sixth round of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks selected defenseman Ashton Cumby.

Ashton Cumby, LHD​

6-5, 216
DOB: 7-19-2005
Shoots: Left
2024-25 Team: Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)

another Ilya? why not! pic.twitter.com/L1kgJaQyjd

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) June 28, 2025

• With the 194th overall selection in the seventh round of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks selected goalie Ilya Kanarsky.

Ilya Kanarsky, G​

6-3, 192
DOB: 12-6-2004
2024-25 Team: AKM Tula (MHL)

• The Blackhawks traded the 197th overall selection in the seventh round of the 2025 NHL Draft to the Florida Panthers.

Also Read​

Tracking the trades of NHL players during Day Two of the #NHLDraft2025 #Blackhawks www.bleachernation.com/blackhawks/2…

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— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@bn-blackhawks.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 12:06 PM

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/blac...draft-live-blackhawks-coverage-of-rounds-2-7/

 

[Chicago Blackhawks]

Big Swings, Minor Trades, Marner Tampering? Decentralized Discussed, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

The 2025 NHL Draft is in the books! It’s done… though, at times, it felt like the first round might last long enough that it overlapped with free agency beginning on July 1st. You would think people weren’t fans of the Blackhawks’ draft class after Round One based on some of the grades I shared. But, when the dust had settled and the Blackhawks had made their eight total selections, Corey Pronman gave the Blackhawks a B+ for the entire class.

Here’s part of what he wrote at The Athletic:

Chicago added a lot of speed and size to its prospect pool this weekend, going after some of the most athletic players in the draft, including two of the very best with late first-round picks.

Nathan Behm, who was drafted by Chicago at No. 66 overall, describes his game: "I think I’m a smart, skilled winger. I bring a dual threat, goal scoring and playmaking. I think I have a lot of offensive upside and I’m big as well." #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/WEN0fNW0OD

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) June 28, 2025

• For the crowd that has consistently whined about the Blackhawks needing to specifically draft players who are big: after the last two days, y’all can shut up now. The Blackhawks had a BIG draft — literally.

3. Anton Frondell, F, 6-1, 205 lbs.
25. Vaclav Nestrasil, F, 6-6, 185
29. Mason West, C, 6-6, 218
66. Nathan Behm, RW, 6-2, 203
98. Julius Sumpf, C, 6-2, 194
107. Parker Holmes, LW, 6-4, 215
162. Ashton Cumby, LHD, 6-5, 216

• Blackhawks Director of Amateur Scouting Mike Doneghey acknowledged the Blackhawks evolved a bit in their approach to their draft class this year. They still looked for some of the core attributes they consistently have since Kyle Davidson started running things, but the depth the organization has built and the rate with which the prospects are starting to matriculate to the NHL has given them some ability to take bigger swings — again, literally. And there was a nuanced shift in the type of “excellent skater” they were looking for this year.

“When you start doing that and start seeing them come through the door here and how they’re playing, then you can kind of be like, OK, we need a little bit bigger wingers, we need a little bit more hardness. Skating has always been a trait of ours. Maybe it’s we don’t need a burner as much, we need a powerful skater, but a different skater.”

“It still goes back to our traits, right? … I say it till I’m blue in the face, guys are sick of hearing it: ‘Stick to the traits, stick to the traits, stick to the traits.’”

—Blackhawks Mike Doneghey on some of the drafts picks being raw in terms of development pic.twitter.com/FdoTkD5sdI

— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) June 28, 2025

• Also, Doneghey basically thinks we can all take our immediate draft grades and shove ’em. Respectfully, of course.

“I read all the same stuff (about the Blackhawks’ picks). No one ever says, ‘geez, let’s give them an A-plus for Sam Rinzel.’ Nobody does that.”

• The decentralized draft is going to get talked about a lot in the coming days and weeks as the league evaluates what to do in the future. My vote would be to move the Stanley Cup Final back to where it used to be (early June) and move the draft a full week ahead of free agency so we can have all of the nice things we used to as hockey fans.

• The Blackhawks traded a seventh-round pick (No. 197) in the 2025 NHL Draft to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Florida’s seventh-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. The Blackhawks acquired this pick from Boston in the trade for the rights to Victor Söderström.

• The Blackhawks traded the rights to Russian center Ilya Safonov to Vancouver for future considerations. Safonov, 24, wasn’t going to sign with the Blackhawks any more. He was originally drafted by the Blackhawks in the sixth round (No. 172 overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft.

• This is a massive piece of news from the Sunday morning episode of the “32 Thoughts” Podcast could send shockwaves thru the NHL. According to Elliotte Friedman, there was buzz at the draft that Toronto might go after Vegas for tampering with Mitch Marner before free agency formally opens at noon ET on July 1. Which, you know, has happened forever (look at how many deals are allegedly negotiated in like four minutes after the clock hits the Open for Business hour).

• But Friedman indicates there’s a thought that it’s getting to the point that the league wants to make an example of someone because it’s happening too much/too early. And this could be an opportunity to do that… unless Vegas, you know, trades a few nice players to the Leafs to get the deal done.

Elliotte Friedman updated the Mitch Marner, Golden Knights, Maple Leafs situation this morning on “32 Thoughts”.

This is why Friedge is the one of the best to ever do it.

What an update. Like…wow. pic.twitter.com/AnGIbsKwTc

— Sid Seixeiro (@Sid_Seixeiro) June 29, 2025

• The Flames signed RFA defenseman Kevin Bahl to a six-year extension with a $5.35M AAV.

• The Blues signed RFA goaltender Joel Hofer to a two-year contract extension with a $3.4 million AAV.

• Finally, the University of Michigan had one heck of a draft. The Wolverines had eight (8!) current or future (incoming) players get drafted this year. That’s impressive!

Michigan hockey has historic 2025 NHL draft https://t.co/eLhCDdl30R

— MLive (@MLive) June 28, 2025

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• The Cubs beat up on the Astros yesterday.

• The Bulls traded… Lonzo Ball to the Cavs?

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/blac...lized-discussed-and-other-blackhawks-bullets/

 

[Chicago Blackhawks]

Blackhawks Release Roster for Development Camp

On Sunday evening the Blackhawks released the names of the players who will attend the development camp this week. The camp will remain off the ice again this year. Sorry, folks.

The number of Blackhawks prospects attending is getting smaller because so many prospects have turned pro already.

There will be 16 forwards, only four defensemen and just one goaltender this week.

From this weekend’s 2025 NHL Draft, new faces to the organization attending will include all three first-round picks — Anton Frondell, Václav Nestrašil and Mason West — as well as forward Nathan Behm (third round), Julius Sumpf (fourth round) and Parker Holmes (fourth round). Defenseman Ashton Cumby (sixth round) will also be in town this week. That’s the entire 2025 draft class except seventh round goalie Ilya Kanarsky.

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/blackhawks/2025/06/29/blackhawks-release-roster-for-development-camp/

 

[Chicago Blackhawks]

Around the NHL: Marner to Vegas, Bouchard Stays, Panthers Running it Back, More

With free agency *officially* (wink) starting on July 1, things got busy in a hurry on Monday. So let’s take a quick lap around the NHL to see what’s making headlines.

Marner to Vegas​

And yes, the big one came from Toronto. The Maple Leafs signed Mitch Marner to an eight-year deal with a $12M AAV — on behalf of the Vegas Golden Knights, who are reportedly trading Nic Roy to the Leafs in a sign-and-trade deal. There’s a lot of speculation floating around the interwebs that the NHL is seriously looking at teams tampering with free agents before the doors are officially open on Tuesday. We’ll see if this goes anywhere. With Toronto agreeing to the trade, I doubt it gets much run beyond the deal being done.

Pending trade call being completed. As was previously reported/speculated, assuming it goes through, it will be Nic Roy to TOR and signed Mitch Marner to VGK. The trade is, I believe, one for one. https://t.co/9y2wn1Q5Km

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 30, 2025

Panthers Running it Back​

What if I told you, for the same roughly $12M the Golden Knights gave Marner, the back-to-back defending champion Florida Panthers re-signed both Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand?

Ekblad agreed to an eight-year extension at a $6.1M AAV. Marchand then accepted a six-year deal with a $5.3M AAV.

Brad Marchand is reportedly signing a six-year contract extension to stay with the @FlaPanthers! pic.twitter.com/UxCWj6OPgN

— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) June 30, 2025

Bouchard Stays Put​

The Oilers got a huge piece of business done on Monday, signing defenseman Evan Bouchard to a four-year extension that has a big time $10.5M cap hit. The Oilers are going to have to dump salary to fill out their roster for the coming season, so stay tuned on what’s next in Edmonton.

Confirming: #Oilers and D Evan Bouchard have reached an extension – 4 years x $10.5 million.

Price to get to eight years was a stretch Edmonton couldn't commit to at this juncture.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 30, 2025

Wild Add Tarasenko, Blue Jackets Keep Provorov, More​

The Red Wings found a new home for Vladimir Tarasenko. He’s headed to Minnesota for fan favorite, future considerations. I’m not sure what they’re doing in Minnesota; getting Tarasenko off the books is fabulous for Detroit.

UPDATE: The #RedWings have traded Vladimir Tarasenko to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for future considerations. pic.twitter.com/NVFj0YzFH5

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 30, 2025

The Utah Mammoth have been involved in a lot of hot rumors over the past week. They cleared out some cap space on Monday afternoon (in Chicago), trading Matias Maccelli to Toronto for a conditional third-round pick. According to Frank Seravalli, “Condition: That pick can become a 2029 2nd Round Pick if Maccelli scores 51 or more points in 2025-26 AND Toronto qualifies for the playoffs.”

We’ve traded Matias Maccelli to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Toronto’s own 3rd Round Draft Pick in 2027 (conditional).

Read more here: https://t.co/VZt3vXTIav pic.twitter.com/mdf9ILqrVA

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) June 30, 2025

The Blue Jackets got a deal done with one of their top potential free agents, inking a seven-year deal with defenseman Ivan Provorov that has an $8.5M AAV.

NEWS: The Columbus Blue Jackets and pending UFA Ivan Provorov are finalizing a seven-year contract at $8.5M AAV per season.

H/T @PierreVLeBrun pic.twitter.com/MbBge7NLPD

— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) June 30, 2025

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/blac...bouchard-stays-panthers-running-it-back-more/

 

[Chicago Blackhawks]

Look Who’s Back: Blackhawks Acquire Sam Lafferty From Buffalo

The Blackhawks made a trade in the moments before the free agent market opened, bringing a familiar name back to Chicago.

The Blackhawks acquired veteran forward Sam Lafferty from Buffalo for a sixth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. Lafferty, 30, has one year remaining on his contract with a $2M cap hit.

welcome back to Chicago, Sam Lafferty

➡︎ https://t.co/SrGPYWevac pic.twitter.com/XGw3N6nzP4

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) July 1, 2025

As a reminder, Lafferty’s rights were acquired from Vancouver last summer in the deal that landed Ilya Mikheyev. He opted to not sign with the Blackhawks then. Now, he’s back anyway.

Lafferty previously appeared in 97 regular-season games for the Blackhawks during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.

This is the third time Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson has acquired Lafferty in a trade. Davidson originally acquired Lafferty from the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Alex Nylander on Jan. 5, 2022. He was traded to Toronto with Jake McCabe on Feb. 27, 2023 for a package that included the 25th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft (Václav Nestrašil).

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/blackhawks/2025/07/01/blackhawks-acquire-sam-lafferty/