By Andrew Chong, Editor /
It will be very interesting to see how the Chicago Blackhawks deal with their imminent salary cap issues once the 2010 season wraps-up.
Chicago has benefited greatly from young, emerging stars with bargain contracts. For instance, Norris Trophy candidate Duncan Keith has a cap hit of $1.475 million.
But those days are coming to an end.
With the new contracts of Keith, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane set to kick-in next year, the ‘Hawks will have no choice but to cut dollars, elsewhere.
Kane’s cap hit increases by $2.5 million (to $6.25 mil), Toews’ by $3.7 million (to $6.25 mil), and Keith’s by $4.4 million (to $5.88 mil) – that’s an additional $10.6 million of cap space used up and no new players to show for it.
The ‘Hawks are also locked-in to deals worth $5.625 million for backup Cristobal Huet, $7.14 million for Brian Campbell, and $5.233 million in Marian Hossa.
Add the remaining contract obligations of Seabrook, Bolland, Versteeg, Byfuglien, Sopel, Kopecky, and Brouwer and Chicago will be sitting at about a $55.6 million salary cap hit, this summer. With next year’s cap ceiling likely to drop below this year’s $56.8 million level, the ‘Hawks will have virtually no cap room, seven forwards, four defencemen, and a backup goalie.
Besides a desperation tactic like burying Huet in the minors to get him off the cap (I would not want to be GM Stan Bowman explaining that one to ownership) or a miracle trade with a team willing to take on Campbell’s contract, the ‘Hawks will need to trade away money. Guys like Sharp, Versteeg, Byfuglien, and Bolland all have cap hits of at least $3 million and are prime candidates to go because of the interest they are likely to draw from other teams.
Chicago will still be good in 2010/11.
But they are going to lose some important ‘B’ pieces and their depth will take a significant hit.
Now is the time for Chicago to win it all. Pieces have fallen nicely into place in all positions.
But the cap is looming and it might be a long time before the ‘Hawks are this good, again.
Montreal story that much more amazing in hindsight
The New York Rangers went on a 6-1-3 run in their last 10 regular season games and finished just a single-point behind the eighth-place Montreal Canadiens for the final playoff spot.
The Rangers were on fire.
In contrast, the Habs won just three of their last 11 regular season games and were in major jeopardy of falling out of the playoffs.
Fortunately for the Canadiens, their 12th-last game of the season was a 3-1 regulation road win over the Rangers.
In hindsight, if Montreal loses that game in regulation and all other things remain equal, the Habs miss the playoffs.
But they didn’t lose.
And they did make the playoffs.
And everyone knows what has happened since. |
