Blackhawks sign Boucher, Mylymok to one-year contracts

A couple of minor leaguers have earned their first NHL contracts.

On the opening day of NHL free agency, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that the team had signed forwards Dillon Boucher and Connor Mylymok to one-year, two-way contracts. Both players’ deals have NHL cap hits of $850,000.

Both players spent last year with the Blackhawks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, using their toughness and physicality to make an impact.

Mylymok was in his second full season of pro hockey. In 52 games, he scored three goals and seven assists for 10 points with an IceHogs team that finished last in the Central Division, missing the Calder Cup Playoffs. He led the team with 204 penalty minutes, good for third in the AHL. Some of those minutes could be attributed to his 11 fighting majors, which also put him near the top of the league.

Prior to Rockford, Mylymok spent most of the 2024-25 season with the Rapid City Rush of the ECHL, scoring 11 goals and 23 points in 40 games. He also appeared in eight games with the Calgary Wranglers, the Calgary Flames‘ primary affiliate.

In 60 AHL contests, the Niagara University product has three goals and 10 points, with 236 minutes in penalties. In 51 ECHL games, he has 14 goals and 26 points, with another 97 PIMs.

Boucher is a USPORTS product from Dalhousie University. He broke into the pro game with the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL last in the 2022-23 season, but earned a spot on the IceHogs this past year. In 53 games in his rookie season in the AHL, he posted three goals and eight points, registering 114 penalty minutes of his own.

In his two-plus seasons with the Thunder, the Nova Scotia native scored 14 goals and 35 points in 151 regular-season games, totaling 242 PIM, 128 of which came during the 2024-25 campaign.