Blackhawks sign Frolik, Lepisto; say goodbye to Campoli

Friday was a busy day for general manager Stan Bowman. And it had nothing to do with the annual convention at the Hilton Chicago.

The Hawks announced they signed winger Michael Frolik to a three-year deal, which is worth a total of $7 million, and also defenseman Sami Lepisto, who will make $750,000.

But Bowman also said the team has decided to end negotiations with restricted free agent defenseman Chris Campoli, who has an arbitration hearing scheduled on Aug. 3.

“We tried to work it out with Chris,” Bowman said. “We went back and forth and made him our best offer and it didn’t work for them. We indicated that we’re going to have to go in another direction, and they understand that.

“We ended up going to the free-agent market. We talked to a few people and Sami was the guy. In speaking to him, he really wanted to be with the Blackhawks and that means a lot to us. He’s a guy who’s got some growth to his game.”

The Hawks now have eight defensemen signed: Lepisto, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Steve Montador, Nick Leddy, Sean O’Donnell and John Scott.

“We’re comfortable with the group we have now on the back end,” Bowman said. “It took awhile to sort it all out. But we’re happy to have them.”