Niemi vs. Crawford... You decide.

[Everyday I'm Byfuglien]

Is he? Look at this list quick... It isn't that I don't disagree with you, just won't be making any blunt statements claiming he is staying so definitively.

-RFA's for 2011-12-
Michael Frolik
Troy Brouwer
Viktor Stalberg
Jacob Dowell
Chris Campoli

-UFA's for 2011-12-
Jordan Hendry
Fernando Pisani
Ryan Johnson
Tomas Kopecky

While already sitting at roughly $47.5 mil on the books for next season... I wouldn't be 100% sure.

I would bet that Crawford is staying put.

And I leave the cap talk to the professionals- the guys who actually make the decisions. There are way too many variables to consider when trying to figure out how much cash the Hawks have to spend at the end of the season.

 

[Crystallas]

I like how aggressive Crawford has become. He wasn't doing all of the little things that he's doing now, earlier in the season.

I really don't want to think about the "What If" scenarios, because if Niemi stayed put, I would be just as satisfied.