Brent Seabrook Signs Contract Extension With Blackhawks

There won’t be any distraction from his contract status heading into the new NHL hockey season for Brent Seabrook. The All Star defenseman signed an eight year contract extension with the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. The deal is reportedly worth $55 million and will keep him in Chicago through the 2023-24 NHL season. The 30 year old Seabrook could have become an unrestricted free agent after this season and having helped the team win three Stanley Cup Champions they didn’t want to take any chance of losing him.

Many observers had been concerned that the ‘business end’ of the sport could be weighing on Seabrook as this season began. Now that’s not an issue and he’s happy about it: “It’s a huge relief. I’m excited to be a Blackhawk. That’s where I wanted to be the whole time. I didn’t want to push it or wait or anything like that. I’m proud to be a Blackhawk. I’d like to spend my whole career here. It’s up to me now to fulfill my end of the bargain and go from there.”

Seabrook’s deal will cost the team an annual salary hit of nearly $7 million and make their already tricky salary cap situation even more tenuous. Although he admits that could be an issue General Manager Stan Bowman says he’ll deal with that when the time comes: “I think it’s a great problem to have. You can’t just go pick up a Brent Seabrook. If you don’t have someone like that, to be the performer that he is on the ice, as well as the leader he is off the ice … you’re looking for the exact same player.”

Seabrook has been successful on the ice and is a first class individual off the ice. Bowman said that he’s the sort of player teams can build around: “The hardest thing is to find talented players, that are committed to winning, and when you have them you do everything you can [to keep them] and you make it work. There’ll be new challenges every year, but there was never a hesitation that we would bring Brent back.”