The Chicago Blackhawks tendered qualifying offers to restricted free agents Tomas Jurco, Dennis Rasmussen, Ville Pokka, and Erik Gustafsson, reports The Athletic’s Scott Powers. The deadline for doing so is at 5 p.m. ET on Monday, so any potential RFAs who are not qualified by then become unrestricted free agents.
By extending qualifying offers to Jurco, Rasmussen, Pokka, and Gustafsson, the Blackhawks retain negotiating rights and the ability to match any offer sheet signed by the four players. It more or less ensures that they’ll all get re-signed by Chicago, although trades remain possible.