Blackhawks will lose Dylan Strome for nothing.

The Chicago Blackhawks may very well be setting a new bar when it comes to to deliberately tanking your franchise in an effort to rebuild from the ground up.

There have been rumblings for some time now that the Blackhawks would not extend a qualifying offer to forward Dylan Strome, a qualifying offer that would have come in at $3.6 million. In a situation where the Blackhawks were up against the cap this could very well make sense, however the Blackhawks now find themselves with plenty of cap space after moving both Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach in explosive, and quite frankly somewhat controversial, trade deals at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

In spite of the fact that the Blackhawks are currently projected to have over $15 million in available cap space for next season, it now appears a forgone conclusion that they will allow Strome, the former 3rd overall pick at the 2015 National Hockey League Entry Draft, to walk away for nothing. 

On Sunday night, Chicago Blackhawks insider Mark Lazerus reported that a source has informed him Strome will not receive his qualifying offer by Monday's deadline. The move appears to have even caught the veteran Blackhawks reporter off guard, with Lazerus taking the Blackhawks to task over this decision in particular.

From Lazerus:

Strome averaged nearly a point a game over the second half of the season as the No. 1 center between DeBrincat and Kane. His QO would have been $3.6 million.

Tanking is a scourge on pro sports and should not be rewarded. Not that they were first to do it, but the Cubs winning the World Series seemed to kick it into overdrive. Gave everyone else cover to do the same.

It's hard to imagine a world in which the Blackhawks would not have been able to find a trade at some point during the season. A trade which could have netted them at least some measure of return for Strome. It is especially disheartening for Blackhawks fans who know that Strome was acquired as part of the deal that sent forward Nick Schmaltz to the Arizona Coyotes, Schmaltz who put up 23 goals and 36 assists for 59 points in 63 games with the Coyotes last season.