Hawks add veteran center Soderberg
The Blackhawks dipped into the NHL free- agent pool Saturday by signing veteran center Carl Soderberg to a one- year contract with a $ 1 million salary- cap hit.
The signing will help replenish the Hawks’ forward pool in the wake of injuries to wing Alex Nylander and center Kirby Dach in the last week.
‘‘ Carl is an experienced center who plays a strong two- way game and adds an element of size to our group of centermen,’’ general manager Stan Bowman said in a statement. ‘‘ He has shown the ability to score and match up, which is critical in today’s game, and he also brings consistency and versatility to the team.’’
At 35, Soderberg hardly fits Bowman’s heralded youth movement. But Bowman has insisted all along that a rebuild requires a mix of younger and older players.
And while the contract and circumstances make it seem like a depth signing, Soderberg has proved himself to be a substantial offensive contributor for years.
During previous stints with the Bruins, Avalanche and Coyotes, Soderberg has scored 35 or more points in six of the last seven seasons. He had 35 points ( 17 goals, 18 assists) in 70 regular- season games with the Coyotes in 2019- 20, then added two more in nine postseason games.
Two areas of concern are Soderberg’s subpar possession and faceoff stats. His on- ice scoringchance ratio has been below 46% in four of the last five seasons, including 45.7% last season. And he’s a career 47.7% faceoff man, bottoming out at 45.3% last season.
Most interesting is that Soderberg is a center, the position at which the Hawks are somehow simultaneously the most deep and also the most uncertain.
On one hand, Dylan Strome remains unsigned, Zack Smith and Andrew Shaw have uncertain futures and Dach’s fractured wrist might keep him out for a while. ( This signing might hint at bad news on that front, despite the lack of an official update from the Hawks.)
On the other hand, the Hawks already had signed Mattias Janmark and Lucas Wallmark this offseason, still have Jonathan Toews, Ryan Carpenter and David Kampf and have prospect Philipp Kurashev nearing NHL readiness.
Soderberg — and, for that matter, a handful of the others — could end up being traded for draft picks before the deadline April 12 if the Hawks are non- contenders, as expected, this season.
In the meantime, Soderberg’s addition further will complicate what should be a fascinating training- camp battle to sort out the depth chart down the middle.