Chicago Blackhawks Shore Up Need, Nab Best Value of Day in Brian Campbell

On Friday, defenceman Brian Campbell signed the sweetest of sweetheart deals with the Chicago Blackhawks, per the team's official Twitter account. He took a one-year term when he should have been able to get the security of a two-year deal. He took a fraction of his true value in terms of dollars.

In the process, he made the Blackhawks a much better team.

ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun first reported contract details, which include one-third of the player’s total compensation coming in the form of a performance bonus:

For the most part, the NHL’s rules on over-35 contracts work against NHL teams signing those players, but performance bonuses are the exception. Because those bonuses are permitted on over-35 deals, the Blackhawks can treat Campbell's contract as though its actual dollar value is just $1.5 million, deferring the bonuses to next season. That can be valuable to a team that is up against the salary cap, and Chicago always is.

More valuable to the Blackhawks is what Campbell will bring them on the ice.

The best way to express Campbell’s impact is by looking at shot differential. There’s often a perception that puck-moving defencemen primarily have value at the offensive end of the rink, but in Campbell’s case, that’s not true:

Year	CF/60 w/	CF/60 w/o	Difference	CA/60 w/	CA/60 w/o	Difference	Total
2012-13	53.7	51.7	2.0	50.6	56.9	-6.3	8.3
2013-14	53.8	54.3	-0.5	48.4	54.7	-6.3	5.8
2014-15	55.5	52.8	2.7	45.8	54.2	-8.4	11.1
2015-16	51.0	46.6	4.4	45.7	53.6	-7.9	12.3

The chart above shows two different numbers. The first is Corsi For per 60 minutes, which is another way of saying how many times the Florida Panthers shot a puck at the opposing net in an average hour. In  three of four years, Florida was better at generating shots when Campbell was on the ice than when he wasn’t.

His biggest impact, however, was on defense. In each of the four seasons, the Panthers faced between six and nine fewer shot attempts against when Campbell was on the ice than when he wasn’t. That makes sense when one thinks about it; Campbell is a player who is good at keeping control of the puck. It’s hard for opponents to take a shot when Florida has possession.

Overall, Campbell’s impact is massive. In his worst season, Florida’s shot differential improved by six per hour. In his best, which also happens to be his most recent campaign, it went up by 12 shots per hour.

It’s no wonder Chicago general manager Stan Bowman is happy:

The best part from the Blackhawks' perspective is that Campbell doesn’t need to be a star. When he last played in Chicago, he partnered with Niklas Hjalmarsson, and the Hawks could reunite that pairing once again. That would allow them to play Duncan Keith with Brent Seabrook and bump Trevor van Riemsdyk into a third-pair role, a place where he should provide real value.

It should be the best one-through-six defence the Blackhawks have had in years. It will be better than the group that won the Stanley Cup in 2015, which lacked depth and featured Johnny Oduya in the No. 4 slot. Oduya’s a capable defenceman, but he doesn’t drive play the way Campbell does.  

And if it works out, there’s nothing to stop the Blackhawks from doing it again next year. And maybe the year after that. Possibly even the season after that. Smart, fast, puck-moving defencemen have a history of aging well, and there’s nothing to keep Chicago from signing Campbell to a series of bonus-laden, one-year deals for as long as he’s willing to take them.

As Blackhawks TV's Eric Lear reported, Campbell is happy to be back with Chicago:

That’s understandable, and it offers the explanation for today’s deal, which represents the best value of any deal signed thus far in the 2016 free-agency period.

Statistics courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com and Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com. 

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.