While it appears Johnny Oduya will sign elsewhere come July 1, the Chicago Blackhawks did add a body to its blue line for the 2015-16 season on Monday inking restricted free agent defenseman David Rundblad to a two-year contract extension.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Rundblad’s deal has a $1 million annual average value. The deal gives Rundblad a $130,000 raise on his 2014-15 salary.
The 24-year-old’s two-year $1.57 million dollar deal was set to expire on Wednesday.
Rundblad appeared in 49 regular season games with the Blackhawks in 2014-15 scoring three goals and 11 assists to go along with a plus-17 rating while averaging 12:48 in time on ice.
Originally a first round pick (17th overall) of the St. Louis Blues in 2009, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound blue liner also appeared in five playoff games for the ‘Hawks registering a plus-2 rating while averaging 7:29 in ice time a night.
Per Generalfanager.com, the Blackhawks now have four defenseman under contract for the 2015-16 NHL season with a little over $7 million in cap space to work with.
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