The Blackhawks have signed left wing prospect Marek Vanacker to his three-year, entry-level contract, per a team release. It carries the maximum ELC cap hit of $975K.
Vanacker, 18, was the 27th overall pick in June’s draft. Chicago acquired the selection from the Hurricanes on draft day, sending the No. 34 (Dominik Badinka) and No. 50 (Nikita Artamonov) picks the other way. He spent his draft year with the Brantford Bulldogs of the Ontario Hockey League.
Vanacker broke out as a star in Brantford last season, leading the team in scoring by a wide margin with 36 goals, 46 assists and 82 points in 68 games. The teammate of Blackhawks 2023 third-round pick Nick Lardis had just four goals in 55 games for the Bulldogs the year prior.
The strong-skating playmaker is an unlikely candidate for an NHL roster spot in the fall, though. He’ll attend training camp with the Blackhawks but will be returned to Brantford to play out the 2024-25 season. That will slide the beginning of his entry-level contract to the 2025-26 season, making him an RFA upon expiry in 2028. Vanacker is young enough that he’s eligible for an entry-level slide twice, so if he plays fewer than 10 NHL games in 2025-26, the contract may not begin until 2026-27, thus expiring as late as 2029.
Vanacker was the last of three first-round picks that Chicago made this year, joining second-overall selection Artyom Levshunov and No. 18 pick Sacha Boisvert. The former will be turning pro in the fall, while Boisvert remains unsigned ahead of his freshman season at North Dakota.