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The Chicago Blackhawks today locked down 3 Restricted Free Agents that all played a big part in the 2007-2008 Season success. Adam Burish, Dustin Byfuglien, and James Wisniewski, all under the age of 25, each resigned with the Blackhawks today. 

These signings show a continued commitment by the Blackhawks organization to go out and continue the success that they began last season.  Burish appeared in 81 games this season for the hawks and contributed 4 goals and 4 assists, to go with his 214 penalty minutes (3rd in the NHL).  Byfuglien played in 67 games for the Hawks this year and put up 36 points on 19 goals and 17 assists.  And Wisniewski was a solid defenseman for the Hawks in 68 games this season while putting up 26 points (7 goals and 19 assists) while racking up a +12 in the all important plus/minus ranking.

All those these signings are very important, the Blackhawks still have some work to do resigning players on their current roster.  For example, I would like to see us re-sign two goalies in Patrick Lalime, as he had a good season for us this year, and restricted free agent Corey Crawford, who also played well this year when called upon. Both Goalies can still help, Lalime as either the Starter or the Back-Up and Crawford as the future of the franchise.

Looking at the forwards, I'd also like to see the Hawks give offers to restricted free agent Rene Bourque who had 24 points on 10 goals and 14 assists in 62 games this year for the Hawks.  Since he is only 26 years old, he shows a lot of promise. Keeping with restricted free agent Left Wings, Andrew Ladd, the 22 year old, acquired late in the season from Carolina also needs to be resigned.  For the season, Ladd had 14 goals and 16 assists in 68 games for the season and 5 goals and 7 assists in his 20 games with the Hawks.  Unrestricted Free Agent Jason Williams would also be a solid player to keep around.  Even though he spent a lot of the season on the injured reserve, he still had 36 points in 43 games this season.  At age 27, that is something can't simply be overlooked.

On Defense, signing Wisniewski was obviously the move to make as he is the only major contributing defenseman on either the restricted or unrestricted free agent list.  But I don't think the club can give up on restricted free agent Jordan Hendry just yet.  At 24 years old he still has time to develop so the Hawks should definitely try to lock him up for the time being.

Hopefully the Hawks will continue to show their commitment to improving upon last season's success and get out there and make the necessary moves.  They are going in the right direction it seems for the first time in a while and they need to keep the momentum up.  All of these players are young guys that can contribute to Chicago Hockey for years to come.