MAJOR | Chicago BlackHawks setting themselves up for a �coup' on the 2023-2024 free agency

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Felip Gosselin
May 10, 2023 (2:13 PM)

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The Hawks have been announced as the Bedard Lottery winner and their current salary cap situation sets them up for a major �coup' ahead of the 2023-2024 free agency.

Now they'll be starting to build their team up again after they've literally traded away every asset that could've helped them win, from Kirby Dach to Alex Debrincat, to Patrick Kane, to Max Domi, to Jack McCabe and Sam Lafferty. The only players worth mentioning they kept were Seth Jones and Jonathan Toews.

Now obviously they have a few up-and-coming rookies that will graduate to the NHL perhaps sooner than expected due to the lack of talent in their line-up, but the Hawks have certainly set themselves up for an extremely intriguing 2023-2024 off-season. Kyle Davidson has managed to free up to $71.5M in cap space for that particular off-season.

The Lights Out Hockey Twitter account pointed out this particular off-season is set out to be the one when Auston Matthews will walk from the Leafs to free agency.

The Leafs are down 3-0 at this point and we expect a shakedown of this roster unless they pull some magic on the Panthers and make it back. It wouldn't be surprising if they chose to part ways with their elite goalscorer. Matthews will have a no-movement clause that will kick in on July 1st making him untradeable before he hits free agency.

Could you only imagine if the Hawks manage to have Matthews and Bedard and their top two centermen? Would this be an even more lethal duo than Crosby and Malkin?