Maybe I was doing to much reading between the lines but when a player become more lose as a celebrity it can often effect there over all outlook on things. At any rate he has change. The fact also is that I believe there have been conversations with Coliton. That's what any hockey core does . I would imagine Kane Seabrook and Keith have had conversations as well. Maybe their input has simply fallen on deaf ears. That fact remains if there is less intensity on the ice. Which there has been then you can easily make the leap and say there is likely less in the dressing room.
My opinion of course, but the issue seems isolated to Toews. If this was a locker room issue I think more guys would be, and continue to be affected. The fact that Keith started the season looking like Matthew Keith and now looks excellent tells me it's isolated to Toews.
If this is correct, then the locker room needs a fresh voice. The problem for this year that I see is that there's no fresh blood infusion into the locker room that is on the same level of "move over geezers; I got this" that happened circa 2008. Dach is a maybe but I think it's too early to tell. That's not saying I think the C needs to be ripped from Toews' chest--far from it. But someone in the locker room needs to be saying "Come with me if you want to win" with enough clout that guys will jump on board.
interesting Panarin like cap hit bonuses for Dach.
As CapFriendly explains, the long term injured reserve tag for Murphy was necessary so the Hawks could keep Kirby Dach around.
It's an indication that Dach will stay here for the season as his potential performance bonuses had the team up against the salary cap.
This is actually pretty standard for rookies--and I believe (although I could be mistaken) that the bonuses have a lot to do with their draft position. Hell, Strome has a potential 2.4M performance bonus this year. If you go to CF and look at Toews/Kane's ELC's they had massive bonuses like Dach's which could count against the cap.
per CF:
What is a Performance Bonus?
A Performance Bonus can be given to a player in addition to their salary. Performance bonuses are only paid to the player if they meet the requirements as defined by the bonus. Performance bonuses count against the salary cap; however, a team can exceed the salary cap due to performance bonuses by the maximum performance bonus cushion amount of 7.5 percent of the upper limit. Not all players are eligible for Performance Bonuses, and to receive a bonus within their contract, a player must meet one of the following criteria:
- The player is on an entry-level contract.
- The player has signed a one-year contract and is over 35 years old.
- The player has signed a one-year contract after returning from a long-term injury (has played 400 or more games, and spent 100 or more days on the Injured Reserve in the last year of their most recent contract).
If a team does exceed the cap, then the bonus overages carry over into the following year--so if, say, Dach & Strome meet their bonuses
and the 'hawks are up against the cap ceiling, that $5M would be taken off the ceiling next season. That affects tagging--i.e. the 'hawks cannot re-sign players to cap hits which exceed the projected cap for the following season.
So (as an example), if we look at the 'hawks now they have ~70M committed in 5 D-men and 10 FWDs (no goalies). Since the 'hawks are against the ceiling, and hypothetically both Dach and Strome meet their bonuses that ~5M carries over into next season--assuming the cap doesn't go up their cap room to re-sign guys like Strome, Lehner, etc. goes down from ~11.5M to about ~6.5M.
In all likelihood only Dach may need it, but it still puts the squeeze on the 'hawks. The 'hawks want to save every bit of cap they possibly can for the eventuality of performance bonus overages.
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