As of right now, in just Day 1 of Free Agency, there have been 161 contracts signing since Noon eastern time today. That’s a whooooole lot of signings. I have (undiagnosed) ADHD so we’re not even going to try to get into all of them because we’ll be here for a Harry Potter book and I’ll lose my train of thought. Let’s start easy and talk about my hometown team of the Blackhawks.
The Hawks only signed 2 players today. Technically, Seth Jones officially signed that $9.5M AAV contract that will kick in next season but I already talked about that here.
The first player Chicago signed Jujhar Khaira, a 26-year-old left shot forward from Edmonton, to a 2-year, $975,000AAV contract. Khaira played in 40 games last season with 11 points (3G 8A) and averaged 12:03 per game. He’s a big boy, 6’4″ 212lbs, and he ended last year with a whopping 151 hits, 21 blocked shots and a corsi for of 37.9%. He played in Edmonton’s 4 playoff games and he had 1 goal while averaging 13:08 per game. I like where his play is at already so let’s see if maybe he can find some fresh legs in Chicago. Just a new scene to boost his numbers and play, it definitely can’t hurt.
Chicago’s next signing was a deal with Jake McCabe. McCabe is a left shit defender coming from Buffalo. He signed a 4-year, $4M AAV deal with the Hawks. He only played in 13 games last season (out mostly with a knee injury) with 3 points (1G 2A), an average of 19:11 on the ice per game. He had 15 blocked shots, 22 hits, and a Corsi For of 48.7%. I don’t know too much about this guy but he got a definite pay raise coming here. I hope he can live up to it, it’s always nice to get a new defender out there and I’ll give him some space until I see him play with our line up.
These signings come on the heels of us getting Marc-Andre Fleury (Who still has no answer about the season), as well as Tyler Johnson and a 2023 2nd round pick for Brent Seabrook’s contract. Sure I didn’t like Johnson in the past because he played for my arch nemeses but I will give him a fresh start here if he can help my team. The Hawks also traded Nikita Zadorov‘s signing rights to Calgary for a 2022 2nd round pick so adding back that bulk in Khaira is fuckin stellar.
Overall, not a bad day for this team. I am going to give all the new acquisitions a fresh start because I am a firm believer in a change of scenery helping players. I hope these guys can bring us some kick ass hockey when that beautiful new season starts. Today was just day one of signings and trades but it did get me really excited for NHL hockey to be back. I will be so fucking confused when the season starts next year and everyone is shifted seven ways to Sunday but I have a good feeling about all of my teams. It’s gonna be a great 2021-22 season and I cannot wait for it to get started.
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