Free agent forward Tommy Wingels signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, the team announced Saturday. Financial terms of the deal with Wingels are not known at this time, but it’s presumably a cheap one.
Wingels, 29, played with the San Jose Sharks from 2010 until this year, when he was traded to the Ottawa Senators. He finished the 2016-17 season with just 12 points in 73 games, but he’s only a couple seasons removed from back-to-back 15-goal performances.
A native of Wilmette, Ill., Wingels graduated from New Trier High School in the north shore before moving on to play collegiately with Miami (Ohio). He was originally drafted by the Sharks with the No. 177 overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft.
Wingels usually plays a defensive-tilted bottom six role, so he could slide into that kind of gig for Chicago next season. With the possibility that Marcus Kruger is still traded this offseason, Wingels (along with Laurent Dauphin) would give the team a new option to possibly fill the gap.
For more on the Hawks’ free agent situation, click here.