Blackhawks Sign Olivier Rodrigue to One-Year Two-Way Deal, $775,000 Cap Hit

The Chicago Blackhawks have added veteran AHL depth by signing goaltender Olivier Rodrigue to a one-year, two-way contract that runs through the 2025-26 season with a $775,000 salary cap hit. The move is explicitly framed as bolstering the Rockford IceHogs in the American Hockey League after Rockford netminder Stanislav Berezhnoy was suspended for 20 games, creating an immediate need for experienced goaltending behind the scenes.

Rodrigue, 25, arrives with a mixed but heavy workload resume. Drafted 62nd overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2018 after the club traded up to select him, Rodrigue logged a career-high 41 AHL appearances with the Bakersfield Condors in 2024-25, going 18-16-8 with a 3.12 goals-against average, a .897 save percentage and one shutout. Those numbers underscore his ability to handle a starter’s workload at the AHL level even as efficiency metrics left room for improvement.

His NHL sample is tiny but notable: two appearances with the Edmonton Oilers in 2024-25 produced a 0-1-0 record, a .862 save percentage and a 3.10 GAA. Rodrigue’s NHL debut came in relief of Calvin Pickard on March 27, 2025, during a 6-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken when he allowed one goal on eight shots. That disparity, 41 AHL games versus just two NHL outings and a sub-.900 NHL save rate, is the kind of statistical oddity that will catch a decisionmaker’s eye when evaluating short-term emergency depth.

Chicago’s signing follows a recent, brief overseas detour for Rodrigue. He signed a one-year deal with Barys Astana of the KHL on August 14, 2025, but suffered a training injury in September 2025 and mutually terminated the contract before playing a game. Earlier in the post-Oilers offseason, he was not tendered a qualifying offer by Edmonton, which left him a free agent prior to the KHL move. That sequence, not qualified, KHL contract and injury, then an NHL organization signing a low-cost two-way deal, illustrates the fragile labor path for depth goaltenders and how NHL clubs mine the market for experienced, affordable options.

From an organizational and industry trend perspective, the Blackhawks’ $775,000 cap-hit two-way structure is textbook roster insurance: it gives Chicago and Rockford financial flexibility to shuttle a veteran netminder between the NHL and AHL while absorbing the immediate roster hole caused by a 20-game suspension. Rockford’s need for a dependable body in goal mirrors a broader AHL reality where suspensions, injuries and condensed schedules force rapid personnel moves and elevate backup-level signings into high-leverage roles.

What to watch next is clear and concrete: whether Rodrigue is cleared of any lingering effects from the KHL training injury, whether he steps into a starting role in Rockford or a tandem with existing IceHogs goalies, and whether his heavy 2024-25 AHL workload translates into steadier play that earns a Chicago recall. Multiple beat reporters have confirmed the signing, and with Berezhnoy sidelined for 20 games, Rodrigue’s performance in Rockford will be a direct barometer of the Blackhawks’ goaltending depth strategy for the rest of the 2025-26 campaign.