The Chicago Blackhawks have reached out to unrestricted free agent goaltender Carter Hutton, reports Mark Lazerus of The Chicago Sun-Times.
The Hawks are among eight teams to have contacted Hutton’s camp, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun confirms Buffalo, Carolina and the New York Islanders are three of the other teams, but does not list the remaining four.
Hutton, 32, is no stranger to the Hawks’ organization. He played two seasons with Chicago’s AHL affiliate Rockford IceHogs from 2011-13 and made one start in net for the Hawks in April 2013 to replace Ray Emery, who was out with an illness. Hutton dressed for five playoff games that season and was given a Stanley Cup championship ring.
Hutton, however, left the Hawks that summer to sign a one-year deal with Nashville. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound netminder played three seasons for the Predators before inking a two-year contract with St. Louis. He posted a 17-7-3 record with a 2.09 goals-against average and .931 save percentage in 32 games with the Blues last season.
It appears Hutton doesn’t want to stay in St. Louis, according to Blue general manager Doug Armstrong.
“Yeah, I don’t blame him,” Armstrong told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week. “We’ve had conversations. He understands that we’d like him to come back. I also understand that he had his career-best year at the proper time for him as an unrestricted free agent.
”He wants to maximize that and I certainly respect that. At the end of the day, he’s a businessman that has to do what’s best for his family.”
UFAs like Hutton were able to start speaking to teams Sunday that do not hold their rights. Those players cannot sign a contract until July 1, when the NHL’s free agency period officially begins.