Max Domi reveals the moment when he knew he wanted to sign with the rebuilding Hawks

Domi signed a 1-year deal with the Blackhawks this summer, taking over $2M less than his 2021-22 cap hit to do so. Why? Well, for one, he relishes the opportunity to play with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews -- two players who he grew up idolizing and whom he watched win multiple Stanley Cups. The second reason? It's who they hired as their head coach.

Domi stated on Thursday that as soon as he had seen that the Hawks hired Luke Richardson as their new head coach, he reached out to his agent and told him that he wanted to be a Blackhawk.

While that might seem slightly random on the surface, it's worth noting that Richardson was an assistant coach in Montreal when Domi was with the Habs. Coincidentally (or not so coincidentally), Domi's first season in Montreal was the best individual season of his NHL career.

In 2018-19, Domi posted a career high 28 goals, 44 assists and 72 points in 82 games for the Habs, blowing his next best season out of the water (his rookie season, where he scored just 52 points in 81 games for the Arizona Coyotes).

Perhaps Domi feels as though he can recapture some of the magic he had while working with Richardson in Montreal to put together another solid season in hopes of parlaying that into a larger contract next summer. Not a bad strategy if you think about it.

Domi, 27, has played 7 NHL seasons in his career, split between the Arizona Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens, Columbus Blue Jackets and a brief stint with the Carolina Hurricanes. Playing for 4 different teams in a 7-year span could be viewed as a bit of a red flag, but Domi has shown in the past that he can be an effective player in the middle of the lineup. Given the fact that his $3M cap hit for one season is a low-risk deal, I'd say the Hawks did fine here. Now it's up to Domi to prove them right.