Blackhawks sign Wyatt Kaiser to two-year contract

It’s a nice little pay bump for Kaiser, who was one of the last restricted free agents to sign a new contract. He’s coming off his three-year, entry-level contract, which had a total salary of $925,000 over the past two seasons.

The Andor, Minn. native is coming off his most productive season with the Blackhawks of his young professional career. Along with appearing in a career-high 57 games, he scored four goals and four assists for eight points. Kaiser registered an even plus/minus while averaging over 18 minutes of ice time.

The 23-year-old also played in 17 contests for the Hawks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, registering three assists. In his first pro season, he notched four goals and 14 assists for 18 points in the AHL.

Kaiser is a solid young prospect in the Chicago system, and is a hopeful to be a solid everyday NHLer this season. He’s part of a young D-Corps that has just one player over the age of 30 – Connor Murphy – with other budding stars such as Artyom Levshunov and Alex Vlasic looking to become marquee players very soon.

In his brief NHL career, Kaiser has appeared in 98 games, notching four goals and 14 assists for 18 points, with a -4 rating. He was taken in the third round, 81st overall, by the Blackhawks in the 2020 NHL Draft.

Along with his time with the Hawks organization, Kaiser was a standout at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He helped the team win the NCHC Championship in 2022 and was a Second-Team All-Star in his junior season the following year. Kaiser also represented the United States at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship.