Blackhawks Place Pavel Gogolev On Termination Waivers
An interesting move by the Blackhawks was announced on Wednesday: Chicago has placed forward Pavel Gogolev on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract.
Gogolev, 23, was acquired in the trade that sent Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty to Toronto. He scored in his second of two games with the Rockford IceHogs.
Gogolev had one more year remaining on his entry-level contract. He is expected to sign with either the Toronto Marlies in the AHL or the Newfoundland Growlers in the ECHL.
At his press conference immediately following the trade deadline last Friday, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson was asked about adding players from the college ranks. He mentioned the organization was watching both college and major junior seasons as they come to a close.
The Blackhawks are currently at 46 contracts, meaning this would give them five openings for new contracts as major junior and college seasons come to a close. As I wrote previously, expectations are that the Blackhawks offer contracts to Landon Slaggert (Notre Dame), Wyatt Kaiser (Minnesota-Duluth) and Drew Commesso (Boston U.). So… that means there are two more spots available.
It’s worth noting the 50 contract maximum is referencing the current season, so the Blackhawks would be looking at up to five additional contracts that would be in place this season. PTO contracts with Rockford would not hit that number.
There are a number of other college players having good seasons who went undrafted, including Bowling Green center Austen Swankler, who may have caught the Blackhawks’ eye this season.
