NEWSLETTER
On Friday morning, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that they had placed Brent Seabrook, Andrew Shaw, and Zack Smith on long-term injured reserve.
Seabrook’s placement correlated with his decision to retire from hockey after 15 seasons with the Blackhawks. His last game with Chicago was on December 15, 2019. He had surgery on his shoulder and both hips over a year ago, and suffered a setback prior to training camp with a back injury. He has three years left on his contract at a $6.875M AAV.
Brent Seabrook on hanging up the skates: "I don't know if it was a decision I made or one my body made for me." #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 5, 2021
Shaw was moved from injured-reserve to the long-term injured reserve, still dealing with a concussion. Shaw last played on February 9 against the Dallas Stars. Given his long history with head injuries, it’s unclear what the next move is for Shaw in his career. Hopefully he can recover well from his latest injury after missing 14 months following his last concussion, which he suffered in November of 2019.
Smith underwent back surgery almost one year ago to the day on March 6, 2020. He hasn’t played with the Blackhawks since, even though we were told he was cleared to return to the Blackhawks ahead of training camp in January. Smith still has a $3.25M AAV cap hit on his current contract that expires at the end of this season.
With the moves made on Friday, the Blackhawks now have $23.0M in cap space, according to CapFriendly.
