Let’s catch up on a few news items following the draft and on the eve of Wednesday’s free-agent frenzy.
On Monday, the Blackhawks extended qualifying offers to four players who were all drafted by Chicago:
#Blackhawks tendered qualified offers to Connor Bedard, Drew Commesso, Ethan Del Mastro and Kevin Korchinski, as expected.
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) June 29, 2026
Those offers ensure Chicago can continue negotiating with those four players when their entry-level contracts expire at the end of the 2025-26 league year, which occurs when the calendar flips to July in about 12 hours. The contract discussions for Bedard will be of particular interest in the weeks ahead.
Two players did not receive those offers and are now unrestricted free agents: Dmitri Kuzmin and Ryan Mast. Neither of those players has appeared in an NHL game.
Meanwhile, the Blackhawks development camp started on Monday and continued on Tuesday from the team’s practice facility.
Here’s the full list of participants:
Chicago’s two second-round picks had podium time on Monday:
Xavier Villeneuve on Duncan Keith being his inspiration: "What he did on the ice, what was his average time on ice when he was in playoffs? Probably 30 minutes, above 30 minutes? Just a horse on the ice. He could do it all. He's really the guy that made me fall in love with the… https://t.co/plZwO8ahHR
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) June 29, 2026
Ryan Roobroeck’s first impressions of Chicago: “It’s a sick city. I love it here. It’s very nice out. There’s hasn’t been one point where I’ve said, ‘Wow, it’s not a place I want to be.’ This is definitely a place I can see myself being in.” #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/pBYljVgVoC
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) June 29, 2026
Villeneuve has been one of the more noticeable players early on in camp:
Xavier Villeneuve is one of those players you can’t help but be drawn to when he hits the ice. Slick hands. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/1mimoolldL
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) June 30, 2026
Skating has been one of the focuses of camp so far, apparently:
Sacha Boisvert, Václav Nestrašil, Marek Vanacker and Ashton Cumby getting in some dev-camp work with development coach Kendall Coyne Schofield, skating coach Tasha Zagorodnikova and Sam Hanson of the Minnesota Frost. pic.twitter.com/2LWJBYXGeg
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) June 30, 2026
Also, here’s an interesting comment from Blackhawks assistant GM Mark Eaton regarding a couple of Blackhawks draft picks who opted to not sign with Chicago:
Good question by @ByScottPowers to Mark Eaton on Jack Pridham and Dominic James not wanting to sign:
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) June 29, 2026
"We want guys that want to be here, battling for spots. If guys want to shy away from that, maybe they weren’t who we thought they were anyway."
Back on Saturday, Hawks GM Kyle Davidson suggested the team wasn’t quite done making moves yet this offseason.
#Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson is still open for business: "We’re definitely looking to make some stuff happen. I stand up here a lot and say I’m open to it. Again, it’s got to make sense, fit for both sides and you’ve got to accomplish something for the other team as well. So we… pic.twitter.com/pMLhYgWcP2
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) June 27, 2026
Guess we’ll find out soon enough!