The Chicago Blackhawks are in the middle of a long rebuild as they try to retool their team in hopes of being back in contention as early as the 2025-26 season. With the addition of superstar forward Connor Bedard, their team is set up for success as they build around their new franchise player. He is currently surrounded by some strong depth pieces but their team isn’t close to being ready to contend just yet.
As they try to find a way to start winning games again, a couple of insiders have hinted at the idea of the Blackhawks targeting one, or both of, Mikko Rantanen and Mitchell Marner. Rantanen was recently traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in a shocking blockbuster deal between three teams, and Marner has been on the Toronto Maple Leafs for his entire career. Both players are pending unrestricted free agents.
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In a recent column from The Athletic, Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus spoke about targeting the two. They explained:
“Davidson will be more aggressive in his pursuit of that high-end type of player come July. He’s gotten a good look at how far the Blackhawks still are from being a competitive team, despite last season’s offseason additions, and has to see the Blackhawks need a major upgrade while the prospects develop, particularly among his forward group… With most of the replacements for any departing players coming from within, there’ll be plenty of cap space to make a serious run at Rantanen, Marner or anyone else.”
source – ‘Why the Blackhawks could be major players for Mikko Rantanen, others this NHL offseason’ – Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus – The Athletic – 01/26/2025
They added in the article that the Hurricanes will have first dibs on signing Rantanen as they will have the benefit of being able to offer him an eighth year, same with the Maple Leafs and Marner, but the Blackhawks can sell the idea of playing with Bedard.
Blackhawks Have Money to Spend Big Next Summer
As of right now, the Blackhawks are projected to have $28 million in cap space going into the 2025-26 season and will likely be looking to spend some of that money if they think have any chance of making the playoffs.
Getting both Marner and Rantanen is likely off the table considering they could both be looking at massive pay raises in the range of $12-14…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…