Thought the Blackhawks were done signing free agents?
Nope!
Monday evening brought another free-agent addition, this time in the form of defenseman T.J. Brodie, who signed a 2-year contract worth $3.75 million annually.
Brodie, who turned 34 last month, has played 908 regular-season games across 14 seasons, most of it with the Calgary Flames. That team drafted him back in the fourth round (114th overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft and he debuted in 2010-11 for the first of his 634 games with the Flames. For the last four seasons, Brodie’s been with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he signed as a free agent after the 2019-20 season. Last season, Brodie skated in 78 games with Toronto, tallying 26 points (1 G, 25 A) with an average ice time of 21:41. Brodie’s been over 20 minutes of average ice time in every season since 2011-12, and he was routinely in the 21-minute range during his four seasons with the Maple Leafs.
The 6-foot-2, 187-pound lefthanded shot had a rough end to the 2023-24 season, though. It started in late March, when he was a healthy scratch for the first time. He appeared in just one playoff game and was a healthy scratch in the others, seemingly falling out of favor on a team that had Stanley Cup aspirations.
For a little off-ice angle on Brodie, though, here’s a information on a cause Brodie has thrown a lot of his time and effort behind: