The Blackhawks re-signed forward Cole Guttman on Thursday to a one-year contract with a $775,000 salary-cap hit, less than the qualifying offer he would have been due June 30 as a pending restricted free agent.
The Hawks will likely re-sign a few more of their pending RFAs — a group that includes Joey Anderson, Taylor Raddysh, Mac-Kenzie Entwistle, Reese Johnson, Michal Teply, Isaak Phillips, Louis Crevier, Filip Roos and Jaxson Stauber — but not too many.
Guttman, 25, has bounced between the NHL and AHL the last two seasons after four years at the University of Denver. He averaged more than a point per game for Rockford in 2023-24 (40 points in 39 games) while adding eight points in 27 games with the Hawks.
His shoot-first mentality, scrappiness around the net and faster-than-he-looks skating have made him a decent bottom-six contributor offensively, but Hawks coach Luke Richardson has had some qualms with his defensive performance, which is made difficult by the fact he’s only 5-9. He didn’t receive another call-up after being demoted Jan. 20.
This could be an important year for Guttman to establish himself full time in the NHL, although the two-way nature of his new contract’s salary structure makes that seem unlikely.
After the Sharks take Macklin Celebrini at No. 1 overall, the order gets a lot murkier. Here’s a rough guess for how all 32 first-round picks will play out, including the Hawks’ No. 2 and No. 18 selections.
New voice Rick Ball isn’t replacing Pat Foley. He’s replacing the guy whom fans didn’t widely accept. Ball gives the Hawks a do-over — though they should’ve had nothing to redo with Foley and Eddie Olczyk in the booth.
The feisty forward played junior hockey alongside Bedard in 2021-22 and 2022-23. As a projected second- or third-round pick, he could be in play for any of the Blackhawks’ four picks in those rounds.