Offer sheet target?
Parts 1 and 2 below. Parts 4 and 5 above.
The Hawks have to face two issues here in the next couple of days.
a) Qualifying RFAs
Didn’t we go through this last year? Problem is that this year, with the Hawks so tight to the cap, they are having trouble qualifying their RFA this year. The CBA sets out that you can exceed the cap limit by 7.5% in the offseason so long as you’re under by opening night. The Hawks can put Huet in the AHL, but they can’t do that until late September, so in the meantime the Hawks have to dance around this issue. Which means that trades have to be made here before July 1st because..
b) Potential offer sheets for Hjalmarsson and Niemi
Teams who want to screw over the Hawks will be looking to poach Hammer or Niemi with offer sheets. So, it would be wise for Stan to get on this ASAP. Either that, or free up the cap room so that they could match an offer sheet if necessary. Again, trades have to be made before July 1st.
Preferably you want to keep both guys. But if you have to pick one over the other (for whatever reason..namely, NIemi wants too much), you sign Hjalmarsson and find a UFA goaltender as a stop gap for one year.
Finally, we get to my assumptions. As set out above, the cap will be $59M, but for the Hawks we’re assuming it’s somewhere between $55 and $56M. For now I’ll say $56M.
Other assumptions include:
1) The big one here, that Huet is not on the team next year in some way, shape or form. Nobody is going to trade for him unless the Hawks use Sharp as “sweetener” in the deal which I wouldn’t agree with. So I’m assuming Huet is in Europe or playing for Rockford next year. There’s really no two ways about it. If the Hawks want to remain a very good hockey team next year, they have to eat Huet’s salary.
2) That Sopel is not on the roster next year either. I believe they’ll be able to find a taker for Sopel near the start of training camp after UFA is done and some team doesn’t grab the Dman they want. He only has one year left on his deal, and was a valuable (for his standard of play) piece of the PK unit during the Cup run.
3) That you can’t really spend more than $5M on Niemi and Hjalmarsson combined. You’ll see why below. It’s up to Stan to negotiate well and be creative. Like I said above, if you’re forced via offer sheet to pick one over the other, do what it takes to keep Hjalmarsson and find a goalie for $1.5-$2M for next season.
4) That despite it being a solution to a lot of problems, the Hawks won’t be able to trade Brian Campbell. Soupy does bring a lot of value on the ice in the Hawks transition game and should be commended for the fact that if he doesn’t come back from injury early against Nashville, we’re not saying Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks right now. But if they can move him, by all means.
5) Ben Eager will not be back. He made $1M on the 4th line and the Hawks can’t afford to pay a 4th liner that much this year.
I mentioned above that there are prospects who are going to figure into next year’s roster. I’ve set out below these prospects status and cap hit (or assumed cap hit):
• Kyle Beach ($1.2M)
• Jake Dowell ($0.53M)
• Jack Skille (RFA - $0.9M)
• Brian Bickell (RFA - $0.6M)
• Corey Crawford ($0.8M)
• Shaun Lalonde ($0.8M)
• Mathis Olimb ($0.6M)
• Brian Connelly ($0.8M)
So what’s the plan?
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