Perhaps this is why the Hawks have great chemistry?
Given the fact that the Hawks have been pretty busy here in the last week or so, it made sense to do up another State of the Blackhawks entry.
1) The RFA-UFA fiasco
There is no question that the Blackhawks on the ice have a boatload of young talent and will be one of the better teams in the league for some time (let’s hope). There is also no question that our GM has shown the ability to be a complete tool at times as well.
While the facts are not completely clear, and they probably never will be seeing as the issue didn’t go to an arbitrator, the Blackhawks management (or clerical staff) made an error in not tendering the qualifying offers to their restricted free agents on time.
Flat out, there is no excuse for this. None. Zero. I don’t want to hear that “we were busy focusing on the draft” or “we never made this mistake in the past” bullshit from Tallon or Bowman Jr. or whoever. These qualifying offers were a mere formality and should have been sent out in the middle of June.
What nearly happened is Blackhawks forward Kris Versteeg and defenceman Cam Barker were deemed unrestricted free agents because of the mix-up. Also affected by this were Ben Eager, Troy Brouwer, Corey Crawford, Aaron Johnson, Brian Bickell and Colin Fraser.
Obviously, Versteeg and Barker would have garnered a lot of attention should they have been UFAs. It’s not often that a Calder Trophy nominee and a 3rd overall pick, powerplay QB type defencemen, both in their early 20s, are on the open market. It could have been a disaster if the Hawks lost them for nothing. A mistake worthy of termination if you were Tallon and Bowman Jr. in my mind.
Fortunately, the Hawks’ chemistry saved Tallon from the worst-case scenario. Despite the fact the players could have walked for nothing potentially, all stated they wanted to stay in Chicago regardless, and all ended up re-signing with the Hawks for on the whole, a decent amount of money. It’s obvious that this team wants to stay together, enjoys playing together, loves the city of Chicago and feels that the Blackhawks are on the verge of something special.
Running down the contracts the players got, Brouwer got 2 years at $1M/per which is not bad. Eager signed for less that I thought he would at $965K for one year, and Fraser re-upped at $700K for one year. Surprisingly, the Hawks also re-signed Aaron Johnson, for depth on defence. Corey Crawford and Brian Bickell also got one-year deals.
Barker and Versteeg both got similar 3 year deals for a little over $3M a year. If you look around the NHL at comparable players, this is in the ballpark. But I can’t help shake the belief that if this whole fiasco doesn’t take place, the Hawks could have saved about $1M combined between the two. Looking forward to 2010-11’s cap crunch, that extra $1M could have gone a long way.
So in summary, I’ll give Tallon credit for quickly reacting and making sure the Hawks didn’t lose any of these assets for nothing. But he’s still a tool for letting it get to this point.
2) Salary Cap Issues
Currently the Hawks are sitting at around $58M for 14 forwards, 6 defenceman and 2 goalies. The salary cap for 2009-10 is $56.7M but there is a bonus cushion this year for around $4M, so you can say the cap is around $60M.
The bonus cushion is used for players on entry level contracts who have bonuses in their contracts. If they players don’t attain these bonuses, then it won’t count towards your final cap. If they do reach them, then they do. The catch with the bonus cushion is if you use it this year, then the amount you’ve used will be taken off of 2010-11’s salary cap.
To use the bonus cushion this year when next year Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith all come up for new contracts, would be absolutely idiotic. Here’s hoping Hawks management realizes that.
That $58M number includes Brent Sopel’s $2.3 cap hit on the books, and I believe he’ll be down in Rockford to start, so that saves some money.
There will most likely be a trade as well to free up some money. I was saying Versteeg would be the one dealt a week ago, but after the whole RFA fiasco, perhaps he might be staying now.
I can see one of Dustin Byfuglien, Patrick Sharp or Versteeg being dealt here in the near future to save some money for not only this year, but 2010-11. A lot of this will tie into which Hawks prospects seem to be ready to make the jump to the NHL.
3) Prospect Camp
From various reports on the internet, it seems that Akim Aliu is turning heads at Blackhawks prospect camp and seems to be the most ready to make the jump to the NHL right now. The problem with Aliu has been his tendency to be a headcase and a loose cannon mentally. If he can keep his head on straight (big if), he could be a force as he has the physical tools to do so.
Other prospects who could make the Hawks in the near future are Kyle Beach, Billy Sweatt, Igor Makarov and Jack Skille. All four are forwards, which is already the Hawks deepest position. This further lends to the belief that the Hawks are going to trade some of their NHL forwards in the next year or so to make room for the cheaper replacements mentioned above.
To me, if Aliu is ready to go this year, he could replace Byfuglien who would fetch a decent return right now after his strong playoffs. I don’t see Jack Skille making an impact and see him getting passed on the depth chart by the other names mentioned, so I would look to deal him while he still has some value. Igor Makarov’s development could also push Versteeg out the door as well. It’s going to be a very interesting training camp with a lot of competition for a few spots.
4) Projected Lines
Now with Versteeg and Barker signed, and my belief that you can’t go trade a guy like Versteeg right after he signs a contract with you as basically a UFA, I’ll put him in the lineup. I’ll also assume that Buff isn’t traded right away, and that the Hawks are able to start the season under the cap. The other assumptions I’ll make is that another defenceman isn’t acquired, despite all the rumblings that the Hawks are looking at acquiring one, and that none of the prospects make the team off the bat. For now, I’d go (LW-C-RW):
Sharp-Toews-Kane
Versteeg-Bolland-Hossa
Ladd-Madden-Byfuglien
Eager-Kopesky-Brouwer
Burish/Fraser as extras
Keith-Seabrook
Campbell-Hjalmarsson
Barker-Hendry
Johnson
Huet
Niemi
I like the 3rd line as a line that is big and can bang on the boards, and can shut down another team’s top line. Although I can see the Q-stache switching Ladd and Versteeg in order to give all 3 lines a playmaking presence instead of having the 3rd line as a pure checking line.
The team still needs another D-man to me, but we’ll see how the offseason plays out. And goaltending is still a concern. Those two items, along with working on extensions for Toews, Kane and Keith should be the priorities for Tallon the rest of the offseason.
I figure that’s enough for one week, we’ll see what the next week brings for the Blackhawks.
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