Report: Blackhawks' core veterans 'have had enough' after latest moves

The Chicago Blackhawks' veteran core - Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook - is fed up with the organization's early offseason moves, according to The Athletic's Mark Lazerus.

"They're pissed. The core guys have had enough," one source said.

Toews told Lazerus the club's offseason transactions don't align with his desire to win.

"Bottom line is, I want to win," Toews said. "The expectation for the other leaders on this team and myself is to come ready to training camp every year to be a playoff team. We prepare ourselves to win a Cup for our fans.

"I've never been told that we were going through a rebuild. That has never been communicated to me, for that matter. A lot of this comes as a shock because it's a completely different direction than we expected."

This offseason, the Blackhawks have let longtime goaltender Corey Crawford walk in free agency, traded forward Brandon Saad, and failed to extend qualifying offers to reliable depth pieces in Drake Caggiula and Slater Koekkoek.

Each of those moves made Chicago's roster weaker on paper. They also come just months after the 12th-seeded Blackhawks eliminated the Edmonton Oilers in the qualifying round to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017.