 The Blackhawks made modest acquisitions during the opening day of free agency by acquiring veterans Cam Ward, Chris Kunitz and Brandon Manning.The team made their biggest move of the offseason by offloading Hossa's contract onto the Arizona Coyotes by trading Vinnie Hinostroza, Jordan Oesterle and third-round draft pick in the 2019 NHL Draft in exchange for Marcus Kruger, MacKenzie Entwistle, Jordan Maletta, Andrew Campbell and a fifth-round draft pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.Quenneville named Ward the team's starting goaltender as Crawford missed the first five games of the 2018–19 season with concussion-like symptoms.