Chicago does make offers to defensemen Isaak Phillips and Louis Crevier, but GM Kyle Davidson seems leery of giving depth players arbitration rights.
Two-way forward Joey Anderson, slumping Taylor Raddysh and scrappy fourth-liner MacKenzie Entwistle are among the RFA's who didn't receive qualifying offers from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Along with forwards Reese Johnson and Michal Teply, defenseman Filip Roos and goaltender Jaxson Stauber, the three are set to become UFA's on Monday. Defensemen Isaak Phillips and Louis Crevier did get qualifying offers, so Chicago retained their rights.
Chicago Blackhawks Joey Anderson skates against St. Louis.
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Anderson was a consistent and hard-working winger for center Jason Dickinson last season on the team's shutdown line. The Twin Cities native set NHL career highs of 55 games and 17 points (five goals) and made his biggest impact defensively. Anderson led Chicago with a plus-5 on an average of 13:33 of ice time per game — on a team with a minus-111 goals differential.
Anderson and any of the RFA's could still re-sign with the Blackhawks, who may have been concerned about giving them arbitration rights with a qualifying offer. Anderson said at the end of last season he wanted to return to Chicago.
Raddysh Had Big Goal Scoring Dropoff
Raddysh scored a career-high 20 goals in 2022-23 and was one of only two Hawks to hit that mark two years ago along with Andreas Athanasiou.
Taylor Raddysh
But last season, Raddysh connected for only five and none after Dec. 14. His shooting percentage fell from 15.5% to 4.2% and his chances dried up as the season progressed.
The Georgetown, Ontario native lived in the same downtown high-rise complex with Connor Bedard and coach Luke Richardson. Raddysh became friends with Bedard away from the ice, and helped the 18-year-old rookie adjust to Chicago and the NHL.
Entwistle, also from Georgetown, had five goals and 11 points in 67 games last season. He was a minus-29 in an average of 11:23 of ice time per contest.
Phillips, 22, and Crevier, 23, went through an adjustment in 33 and 24 NHL games last season. Both were recalled from AHL Rockford when the Blackhawks were hit by injuries.
Neither D-man holds arbitration rights to they won't be able to angle for a big raise. They’ll compete at training camp, but will probably start 2024-25 at Rockford given Chicago's depth on defense.
