On Monday afternoon, the Chicago Blackhawks officially announced what had become an assumed reality: only defenseman Caleb Jones and forward Philipp Kurashev received qualifying offers.
This means Dylan Strome, Dominik Kubalik, Andrei Altybarmakyan, Cameron Morrison, Wyatt Kalynuk and Cale Morris will now hit the open market.
According to CapFriendly, the Blackhawks now have 11 forwards, five defensemen and one goaltender on NHL contracts entering free agency on Wednesday. Those numbers include Connor Murphy and Jujhar Khaira, who finished the season on LTIR.
Among those players, only three forwards — Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Tyler Johnson — have a cap hit of more than $2 million.
At $1.15 million AAV, Sam Lafferty is now the fourth most-expensive forward on the roster.