Chicago Blackhawks, David Rundblad mutually part ways
The Chicago Blackhawks and defenseman David Rundblad have agreed to a mutual termination of his contract, freeing up salary cap space for the franchise.
The Chicago Sun-Times first reported the story Tuesday morning.
Because the contract is terminated, there will be no lingering salary cap hit for the perennially cap strapped team. This means Chicago has $2,398,026 of salary cap space going into next season according to General Fanager.
If the Blackhawks had bought out the 25-year-old Rundblad, his contract would have cost $133,333 against the salary cap this season and $183,333 the following year. If the team buried Rundblad in the minors his deal would have cost $100,000.
A 2009 first-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues, Rundblad had one season left on a two-year, $2.1 million contract signed last offseason.
Rundblad was placed on waivers on July 1 by Chicago.
In 2015-16, Rundblad played nine games with the Blackhawks, 10 games with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, and 11 games with Zurich in Switzerland after he was loaned overseas. Rundblad returned State side in time for Chicago’s first-round playoff series loss to the St. Louis Blues.
In 2014-15, Rundblad played 49 games and notched 14 points with Chicago while averaging 12:48 of ice-time per-game.
“I think he’s looking to maybe pursue other opportunities, whether in the NHL or Europe, I can’t speak for him,” general manager Stan Bowman said earlier in the month. “He’s still a young guy and he wants to get back to playing a lot of hockey and that’s why he wanted to go to Europe mid-season. We were willing to honor that request. We’ll let him find a spot where he knows he’ll be a regular player every day.”
The Sun-Times indicated that more moves could be in store for the Blackhawks this offseason. Hobey Baker winner Jimmy Vesey hits free agency next month and The Athletic reported Vesey will consider the Blackhawks as a possible destination.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
