Blackhawks sign six NHL free agents, including Teuvo Teravainen, Tyler Bertuzzi and Laurent Brossoit

The Blackhawks kicked off NHL free agency on Monday with a flurry of signings, reinforcing their intention to take a step forward this season.

Beloved ex-Hawks forward Teuvo Teravainen returned on a three-year, $5.4 million salary-cap deal and combative playmaking forward Tyler Bertuzzi agreed to a four-year, $5.5 million salary-cap deal, significantly expanding the team’s top six forwards.

Goalie Laurent Brossoit signed a two-year, $3.3 million salary-cap deal, giving Petr Mrazek a more experienced partner and returning struggling Arvid Soderblom to the AHL.

The Hawks also added three more veterans to one-year contracts — defenseman Alec Martinez for $4 million and forwards Pat Maroon for $1.3 million and Craig Smith for $1 million — before closing the day by signing veteran defenseman TJ Brodie to a two-year, $3.75 million salary-cap deal.

And finally, the Hawks extended forward Joey Anderson’s contract for two years, with a salary cap hit of $800,000. He remained on the team even though they didn’t receive a qualifying offer for him on Sunday.

While Kyle Davidson, unsurprisingly, wasn’t a player in the summer’s top free agent sweepstakes, he was the most active general manager in terms of total transactions. Coach Luke Richardson said the phones in the Hawks’ front office were ringing off the hook Monday morning.

“(We’re) excited to now try to move this organization forward,” Richardson said. “It’s been a tough two years at times, but there were times where we saw some really good signals. So now we’re taking those little signals and doing some execution on them to make sure we can move forward.”

Offensive boosts

Teravainen, 29, had 53 points — 25 goals and 28 assists — in 76 games for the Hurricanes last season. He spent the vast majority of his eight years in Carolina as a complementary winger to star forward Sebastian Aho.

His return will undoubtedly be hugely popular with fans, who adored him when he was just beginning his career in Chicago – when he won the Stanley Cup in 2015 as a 20-year-old – and have lamented his departure for nearly a decade.

“He just thrived on a good skating team in Carolina,” Richardson said. “We hope he brings that mentality here. The way Carolina is playing is great.”

Bertuzzi, also 29, scored 43 points — 21 goals and 22 assists — in 80 games for the Maple Leafs last season. He should be able to improve on those numbers with a larger role in Chicago than he had in Toronto (where he averaged 16 minutes of ice time per game).

In 2021-22, his final season with the Red Wings, he averaged nearly 20 minutes on the ice and scored a personal-best 62 points — 30 goals and 32 assists — in 68 games. He does have an injury history, however, having missed most of 2020-21 with a back injury and a significant chunk of 2022-23 with a wrist injury.

“Bertuzzi is that guy who’s around the net,” Richardson said. “He’s tough to handle and he scores big goals out there. He’s one of those guys that you think you’ve got him on the ice and even then he’s going to score.”

There’s a good chance Teravainen and Bertuzzi will start the season as the two first-line wingers alongside Bedard, though Philipp Kurashev and Taylor Hall will also get their own chances to earn those roles during training camp.

Teravainen excels at puck possession, has a hockey IQ high enough to match Bedard and can help cover him defensively. Bertuzzi excels at creating forechecking pressure and winning puck battles, two things Bedard is not built for.

Add Depth

The Hawks were expected to add some competition to the goaltending room, but Brossoit is more than that. He’s worthy of being the “1B” goalie to Mrazek’s “1A.”

The 31-year-old Canadian has never made more than 24 appearances in a season, but has delivered excellent results over the past two seasons with the Golden Knights and Jets, posting a .927 save percentage in both campaigns. He also has a .927 save percentage in five all-time matchups against the Hawks, which has not been forgotten.

On defense, Martinez and Brodie will fill second- or third-pair roles. Brodie, 34, averaged nearly 22 minutes a night with the Leafs last season, scoring 26 points (25 assists) in 78 games.

Martinez, who turns 37 later this month, is nearing the end of a stellar career with the Kings and Knights, but he still has some fuel left in the tank. He averaged more than 19 minutes per game and had 17 points in 55 games last season, though he will forever be best known for his Cup-deciding overtime goal in Los Angeles in 2014.

Both could potentially team up with Kevin Korchinski — Martinez spent a lot of time in Vegas with Shea Theodore, one of Korchinski’s longtime role models — but it now appears Korchinski could end up in Rockford to start the season. He, Wyatt Kaiser and Ethan Del Mastro could compete in training camp for just one open roster spot.

Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Up front, Maroon, 36, and Smith, 34, are both well past their prime but provide some gray fourth-line depth. They’re an upgrade over Taylor Raddysh, MacKenzie Entwistle and Reese Johnson, who have departed.

Maroon, who has essentially become a mercenary for toughness in recent years, scored 16 points in 51 games for the Wild and Bruins last season. Smith scored 20 points in 75 games with the Stars, but is only two years removed from a 36-point campaign in Boston.

“(Maroon is) old-school tough,” Richardson said. “Sometimes the guys who don’t have to get into fights or physical confrontations because of their reputation are even more valuable because it just calms everything down. I can send him out on the ice at any time if things get out of hand.”

Not to be forgotten is Ilya Mikheyev, the speedy defenseman the Hawks acquired from the Canucks last week with two years left on his contract. But Sam Lafferty, another part of that trade, still headed to free agency and signed with the Sabres.

Looking forward

Even with this massive increase in skill and depth, the Hawks likely won’t be a playoff team in 2024-25, but they probably won’t finish in the bottom five either.

It will be interesting to see how much they improve from last season’s 52 points. The Central Division won’t be an easy climb, especially since Utah (with Mikhail Sergachev) and the Predators (with Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei) should be much better.

Interestingly, the Hawks won’t be boasting a particularly young roster. Bedard, Korchinski, Alex Vlasic, Lukas Reichel and Perhaps another defender is needed to complete the youth squad.

Frank Nazar and Landon Slaggert now seem likely to start in the AHL unless they really impress in training camp. No. 2, Artyom Levshunov, will be in Rockford or back at Michigan State.

In that regard, Rockford’s roster will be extremely young, and the Hawks’ biggest long-term priorities still revolve around integrating their abundant pipeline of NHL prospects, which is why Davidson has more or less stuck with his preference for shorter-term contracts.