Chicago Blackhawks sign T.J. Brodie to a 2-year, $7.5M contract

It was rather a hectic first day of free agency yesterday that saw well over 150 signings and over 1.1 billion dollars handed out, and there are still plenty of free agents out there looking for a new home.

The Toronto Maple Leafs had their fair share of deals yesterday, coming to terms with six players on contracts, including Joseph Woll’s extension. However, they also lost a handful of players from their roster, which was going to happen.

According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, former Maple Leafs defenceman T.J. Brodie has signed a 2-year, $7.5M contract with the Chicago Blackhawks ($3.75M AAV).

Brodie was signed to a 4-year, $20M contract ($5M AAV) by the Maple Leafs in October 2020 ahead of the 2020-21 shortened season when Toronto played in the all-Canadian division, and his addition was very welcoming. He was exactly the player this team was lacking, albeit he shot left and not right, but finally, Morgan Rielly had a legit top-four defence partner to play with regularly. Through his first three seasons, Brodie was by far Toronto’s best defenceman at playing defence. His stick work, gap control, and positional awareness were second to none, and it was truly special to watch this player wear the Maple Leafs jersey. I can’t remember a player on the Maple Leafs who the fans felt so comfortable defending 2-on-1s.

However, Brodie’s play took a massive decline in the final year of his contract, and it was noticeable, leading fans to believe that his time in Toronto was soon coming to an end.

Brodie skated in 274 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs over four seasons, scoring eight goals and adding 74 assists for 82 points while being a plus-70. On top of those regular season numbers, the Chatham native skated in 26 playoff games, scoring one goal, which came in Game 6 against the Montreal Canadiens in 2021, and added six assists for seven points while also being a plus-5.

Brodie joins a Blackhawks team ready to take a step in the right direction after drafting Connor Bedard a year ago. Chicago was one of the more active teams on day one of free agency, signing T.J. Brodie, along with another former Maple Leaf, Tyler Bertuzzi, as well as Teuvo Teravainen, Patrick Maroon, Alec Martinez, Craig Smith and Laurent Brossoit.

(Stats from Hockeydb.com)