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On the eve of NHL Free Agency, the Chicago Blackhawks did one of their final bits of housekeeping by sending out qualifying offers to their restricted free agent group.
Three pending RFAs received qualifying offers from the Blackhawks, including defensemen Louis Crevier, Wyatt Kasier, and goaltender Arvid Söderblom. Crevier and Söderblom are arbitration-eligible. Notably among the pending RFAs who did not receive offers from the organization was Philipp Kurashev.
It’s unsurprising to see Kurashev not qualified by the Blackhawks after a significantly down season in 2024-25 (14 points in 51 games) after a career year in 2023-24.
He’s still only 25 years old, turning 26 in October, but he’s been in the organization for the past seven years after being a fourth-round pick in 2018 and playing his first professional season in Rockford in the 2019-20 season. The Blackhawks know who he is and are betting that his career year two seasons ago of 54 points in 75 games was a fluke.
Outlook for the qualified trio
While it’s not the most high-profile list of RFAs that the Blackhawks needed to do business with, they still hold significance to the future of the organization.
Wyatt Kasier is one of the most undersized defensemen in the organization, and he isn’t even that small, at 6’0″ and 175 pounds, but he has been one of the more physical blue liners in the group when given the opportunities in the NHL.
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He plays with an edge, and while he has been back and forth between the Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs over the past two seasons, every time he has come back up to the NHL from the AHL, he’s improved. He turns 23 at the end of July and figures to be fighting for a day one NHL roster spot in training camp.
Louis Crevier is in a similar boat to Kaiser, aside from the size difference, with Crevier towering at 6’8″ and 230 pounds. He’s been up and down between the AHL and NHL over the past two seasons, but his improvement year-over-year has been impressive for a former seventh-round pick.
The Blackhawks value his size, mobility and dependency as a bottom-pair option and will factor into the battle for NHL minutes in the defensive rotation beginning in training camp. Crevier turned 24 in May.
Arvid Söderblom, this time last year, felt like a throwaway goaltender with Drew Commesso in the pipeline and the team signing Laurent Brossoit last July 1. After playing the entire season in the NHL due to Brossoit’s injury issues, Söderblom flipped the narrative on him.
He earns himself a qualifying offer from the Blackhawks after a 10-18-7 record with a .898 save percentage and 3.18 GAA. Not entirely great numbers, but comparing that to his line last season (5-22-2, .880, 3.89), he made big improvements to his game.
He’ll turn 26 in August, and while the Blackhawks still have Brossoit under contract, added Spencer Knight at the deadline last season, and have Commesso itching for NHL ice-time, Söderblom is part of the near-future plans for the organization.
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