Part of me wants to see the puck dropped tomorrow.
July 1st is a big day up north here. Namely, it’s Canada Day, the celebration of our nation’s birth.
For hockey fans however, July 1st is equivalent to spring training in baseball or the day of the NFL draft. It’s the day when hope springs eternal for most NHL franchises as it is the opening of free agency. Teams can go Christmas shopping and try to improve their teams via the free agent route.
The Chicago Blackhawks made a major splash for the second year in a row by signing Marian Hossa to a long term contract. We can only hope that there is no curse of losing in the Stanley Cup Finals brought by Hossa to the Hawks, but really as if 48 years hasn’t been enough anyways.
Also, the Hawks signed Tomas Kopecky to a 2 year deal. This one didn’t make much sense to me as the Hawks have pretty good 4th liners, unless he was brought in as Hossa’s buddy. But I’ll trust Scotty Bowman and Tallon’s judgement on this one for now. Later on in the night, the Hawks completed a great day by signing 3-time Stanley Cup champion John Madden to center the third line and to bolster the penalty kill.
So where do things stand right now? I’ll break this up into a couple sections: forwards, defence, goaltending and then an overall summation of where the Hawks are.
Forwards
Signed: Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, David Bolland, Patrick Sharp, Andrew Ladd, John Madden, Tomas Kopecky, Dustin Byfuglien, Adam Burish
RFA: Kris Versteeg, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Troy Brouwer
Fringe/Prospects: Jacob Dowell (signed), Jack Skille, Kyle Beach, Igor Makarov (may stay in Russia), Akim Aliu
First off, wow. This is arguably the deepest group of forwards that the Hawks have had as long as I can remember. The Q-Stache will have a lot of options at his disposal in the upcoming season. There is a nice mix of size and skill and you have to love the potential. I’d like to see a little more toughness, but how the Hawks prioritize their RFAs will have a lot to say about that.
The Hossa signing combined with Versteeg’s rumored contract demands and the simple math (about 9-10 guys for the bottom 6 spots) means someone is going to get traded, and in my opinion it’s going to be Versteeg. I love Versteeg as a player and see a bright future for him, but in a cap world, you can’t keep everyone it's just the unfortunate truth. He can bring back a pretty good return right now while his value is high. So I will assume he’s traded for this analysis.
I have the lines like this as of right now (LW-C-RW):
Sharp-Toews-Kane
Ladd-Bolland-Hossa
____(1)___-Madden-Byfuglien
____(2)___-Kopecky-Burish
That other 3rd line spot (1) is going to be interesting. I can see Jack Skille getting a shot there, or Kyle Beach possibly if he has a good camp. If the Hawks decide to keep Brouwer and give him a shot with Toews and Kane (why I don’t know, but they did at times), Sharp and Ladd could be dropped a slot each.
For the 4th line spot (2), I’d prefer Eager there. He had a good playoffs and assuming his contract demands aren’t outrageous, I’d like to see him there.
Colin Fraser might be sent back down to Rockford as he is surplus. Either him or Jacob Dowell might be the 13th forward as well, that is a possibility. But the fact remains the Hawks have too many forwards right now, which leads me to believe someone is going to get dealt here. Most likely Versteeg, potentially Brouwer or Skille as well.
Overall, I don’t really have too many complaints with the Hawks up front.
Defence
Signed: Brian Campbell, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jordan Hendry, Brent Sopel
RFA: Cam Barker
Fringe/Prospects: Aaron Johnson (UFA)
Barker is the highest remaining priority for the Hawks this offseason. So long as he doesn’t command crazy money, the Hawks should re-sign him.
To me, this defence is still one man short, and that’s a veteran, steady, rugged, stay at home defenceman. Ideally, this defenceman would play with Brian Campbell to help minimize the damage he creates when he’s turning the puck over. I do think Campbell will have a better year next year as it’s always tough that first year in a new city with a big contract, but he’ll have to be a hell of a lot better to every justify his salary. This is still Tallon’s second biggest flub to me, and if there ever is an opportunity to trade Campbell, you have to do it, more on this later.
So let’s assume Versteeg or some other forward gets dealt for a D-man. The pairings become:
Keith-Seabrook
Campbell- __veteran D__
Barker-Hjalmarsson
Sopel/Hendry as the 7th
What is complicating matters right now is Jordan Hendry has a one way contract and can’t be sent to Rockford, and Sopel, well, is bad, especially at $2.3M a year. The Hawks would like to rid themselves of Sopel, but I doubt there’s any takers. There is a good chance that Sopel will end up in Rockford if not this year, then next when the Hawks' cap Armageddon hits.
I like the defence core right now as it is mobile and can move the puck, but there is without question the need to add a more physical, rugged force back there.
Goaltending
Signed: Cristobal Huet, Antii Niemi
RFA: Corey Crawford
The home of Dale Tallon’s biggest flub is between the pipes next year. The biggest question mark for the Hawks will be Cristobal Huet and whether he can be consistent and good enough to help the Hawks to the Cup. Personal opinion, I don’t think he is but I do hope he proves me wrong. I wish there was some way the Hawks could have kept Khabibulin, but unfortunately things couldn’t work out and I can't fault Nikolai for taking the 4 year term as opposed to the 2 year/$8M deal from the Hawks.
Antii Niemi and Corey Crawford will battle it out for the backup job in camp as things stand right now. The Hawks are high on both of these guys and Dale Tallon has recently been quoted as saying they would be comfortable with either of them as the backup. Myself? Meh…maybe.
I’d like to see the organization find a young, quality backup goaltender who can push Huet. I’m a little skeptical on whether Niemi or Crawford can do that, but it’s looking like what’s going to happen.
Names that pop to mind as good young goaltending prospects are Josh Harding of Minnesota who is stuck behind Backstrom, Cory Schneider of Vancouver who is stuck behind Luongo or Tukka Rask in Boston where the Bruins have committed long term to Tim Thomas. I’d also investigate the Atlanta situation where both Kari Lehtonen and Ondrej Pavelec are going to be competing for time. For Lehtonen you’d probably have to trade Huet, so it’s unlikely.
Overall
On paper, and titles are very rarely won on paper but nevertheless, the Hawks look like they will be one of the top teams in the NHL again next season. Chicago was able to upgrade their forwards yesterday and their penalty killing ability, but still has some work to be done on the blue line. And as mentioned above goaltending is an issue that I believe needs to be addressed as they have put their eggs in Huet’s basket between the pipes. We can only hope, despite my skepticism, that he can do the job.
I’ve been scouring some message boards after the signings yesterday and some people are anointing the Hawks as the team to beat next year. Not so fast I say and let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What we can say however is that management has put the players in a position to succeed this year, and now it’s on the players and coaches to do it on the ice. Also, it is apparent to Hawks fans that management wants to win a Stanley Cup and will do everything in their power to do so. As a Hawks fan, I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we appreciate the efforts and would want nothing more than to see Jonathan Toews be handed the Stanley Cup from the NHL Commissioner
As for what’s left this offseason, we’re probably going to see Versteeg dealt here at some point unless he’s willing to take $2M/year because of the 2010-11 cap situation (Toews, Kane and Keith coming up). After next year, Sharp or Buff could be trade bait as well, it all remains to be seen. The team still needs another experienced rugged defenceman, and I’d still be looking to improve the goaltending situation if I’m Tallon.
Regarding 2010-11, there is no question this is an issue and will be factored into all decisions the Hawks make from here on in. In a perfect world, the Hawks would trade Campbell’s outrageous contract as well as Huet. Fact is, it’s very unlikely we’ll see that happen, unless the Hawks were to give up some other major value to get a team to take on those contracts (I would not be against this either..ie giving up a 1st round pick to get rid of one of those contracts).
That said, there are still some creative ways the Hawks can survive next year’s cap mess. Having an owner like Rocky who may eat some of the contracts for players who get sent to Rockford helps. Like I said above, Sharp, Buff or other complimentary players could get dealt to create the cap room to retain the core. So long as the Hawks can keep the core together, they’re going to be in good shape for years to come.
I’m not going to say I wish it was October because summer is awesome and we don’t get enough of it up here, but I will say that I’m definitely looking forward to the 2009-10 NHL season as a Blackhawk fan.
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