Veteran defenseman T.J. Brodie’s dreadful season with the Blackhawks has led to the expected result.
Following the opening of the NHL’s first buyout window of the offseason Thursday, the Hawks placed Brodie on waivers to initiate the buyout process Saturday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported.
The 34-year-old had one year remaining on the two-year contract with a $3.75 million salary-cap hit that he signed last summer — a contract the Hawks quickly regretted.
The buyout doesn’t create any substantial cap savings. The Hawks will incur a $3.233 million cap hit in 2025-26 and a $258,000 cap hit in 2026-27 as a result, per PuckPedia. That’s because most of Brodie’s cap hit stemmed from a guaranteed signing bonus rather than his actual salary.
But the buyout does free up a contract spot, allow Brodie to explore other opportunities elsewhere and generally cut ties with the failed partnership.
The former Flames and Maple Leafs standout — an excellent top-four defenseman for much of his career on both Canadian teams — tallied a meager 10 points in 54 games for the Hawks while struggling mightily in his defensive zone. He seemed to be finding some rhythm late in ex-coach Luke Richardson’s tenure (after a slow start), but then Anders Sorensen’s arrival capsized that.
The Hawks were outscored 42-23 during Brodie’s five-on-five ice time (the third-worst goals ratio out of 214 defensemen across the NHL) and also generated a 45.2% scoring-chance ratio.
Once the team committed their roster to the youth movement, Brodie was a healthy scratch for each of the final 22 games of the season, making it obvious this buyout was coming. He eventually stopped traveling with the team, although he continued to practice dutifully at home.
