Blackhawks Summer Suggestion Box
June 16, 2011 | Filed under: Chicago Blackhawks,Western Conference | Posted by: Ken Oda
Now that the smoke has cleared from the Stanley Cup finals and the 2010 season its time to look ahead to the 2011 off-season. This is the first real off-season for Stan Bowman who went into last summer with his hands tied behind his back thanks to Dale Tallon’s mismanaging of the salary cap.
With 8 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 2 goalies under contract already the Hawks need to add at least 4 forwards to reach the minimum along with probably one more defenseman making John Scott the swing man and frequent healthy scratch. There has been no firm number put on next season’s salary cap so for now I will work on an estimated 2.5 million dollar increase giving the Hawks roughly 7.6 million in cap space. Here is a look at just a few of the possible routes Bowman can take.
The Conservative Route:
With the Hawks top 4 d-men locked up and 6 of their top 7 scoring forwards signed through next season the Hawks are not in danger of losing any member of their coveted core. Tomas Kopecky is the best UFA on the roster and Troy Brouwer, Michael Frolik, and Chris Campoli, are the only RFAs of consequence. All four can be brought back under the cap and the Hawks would probably still have room for one 1.5 to 2 million dollar player.
If Campoli is brought back the UFA player added would probably be a center as that is the position that the Hawks have the least depth. Of course a $2 million center would probably not fill the second line center roll meaning Dave Bolland would probably shift up into that role. Marty Reasoner or Eric Belanger might fit the bill.
The conservative route is not without merit; this team is more talented than the 8 seed it was. Injuries and the fabled Stanley Cup hangover certainly lead to a bad start that had the team playing catch-up. When healthy the Hawks went on a 7-2-1 run in December and a 10-1-2 run in February. This team also seemed to play to their competition, going 21-13-8 against teams that made the playoffs while only going 23-16-1 against teams that missed the playoffs.
Laich is set to be a UFA July 1st and would be a great fit on the second line.
The Mini Rebuild:
With the core under contract the Hawks could opt to deal a few of their RFAs and then have some money to spend on the UFA crop. Brouwer and Campoli probably don’t have ideal roles on this team. Campoli’s qualifying offer of 1.4 million is a bit expensive for a 5[sup]th[/sup]or 6[sup]th[/sup] defensman. Brouwer has disappeared down the stretch of each of the last two seasons and hasn’t shown an ability to score when not playing next to Jonathan Toewsand Patrick Kane.
Trading the two expensive RFAs away would leave only Frolik as an expensive RFA and his qualifying offer is only $803,205 though he will probably be re-signed for a little more than that with a longer term. Bring back Viktor Stalberg and bring up Jeremy Morin and the Hawks would be at 11 forwards with just over five million in cap space.
The Hawks could then look to add one big signing Brooks Laich to center the second line or Ville Leino at wing or bring back James Wisniewski to bring a physical preference on the blue line. The other option would be to add a pair of mid-priced free agents such as Steve Eminger plus getting a mid priced center in the trade of Brouwer or Campoli.
The mini-rebuild might be just what the doctor ordered for this team. With Sharp entering the final year of his deal the Hawks could afford to sign a player to a 4 to 5 million dollar player to essentially replace him after next season. The addition of a second line center either Laich or a player acquired through trade would allow Sharp to play on the wing of Toews and Kane which has been one of the best lines in hockey when Sharp isn’t centering the second line. It also allows Bolland to play in the third line checking role for which he is best suited.
The Super Aggressive Route:
As someone who grew up reading Sam Smith in his heyday covering the Chicago Bulls I’m prone to dreaming up big roster moves. While I admit this is totally unlikely I think in a way it does make sense. It is the kind of move that either gets a GM fired or his name on the cup and for that reason never happens.
Patrick Sharp is entering the final year of his deal. He will be 30 next off-season and is coming off of a career scoring year. It is pretty unlikely that he will re-sign for the $3.9 million he is making now. Even though Niklas Hjalmarsson bounced back a little in the second half he still took a big step back this season and is making $3.5 million for the next three seasons.
The Blackhawks should trade both of these players freeing up $7.4 million for next season on top of the $7.6 million they already have brining their total cap space up to $15 million to sign 5 forwards and 2 defensmen. The Hawks should look for draft picks and/or mid to high level prospects in return. Again Frolik and Stalberg can be brought back on their qualifying offers plus Morin added for a total of $2.4 million. Leaving $12.6 million for 2 forwards and 2 defensmen.
Adding Steven Stamkos would be the kind of move that got Stan Bowman out of his father's shadow.
The Hawks should then sign one of the big RFAs from this seasons class to an offersheet. While Drew Doughty and Shea Weber would give the Hawks the best blue line in the NHL (and I would have no problem with adding them); I would target Steven Stamkos for about $7.5 million for 5 or 6 years. Tampa would have a difficult time matching even though they have almost $23 million in cap space as they only have 11 players under contract and all of the big money guys have no trade clauses.
Stamkos would take the Hawks weakest position of center and make it a strength with Toews, Stamkos, and Bolland down the middle. Hossa, Kane, and Smith would be on the right wing with Morin, Frolik, and possibly Stalberg on the left side. The Hawks would then have about $5.1 million remaining to fill three roster spots which leaves plenty of room for quality players to be brought in for those roles. Such as Steve Eminger and Troy Brouwer.
The $7.5 million would require the Hawks to give up 2 first round picks along with a second and a third. While that sounds high the Hawks picked up several picks and prospects in last season’s cap purge and should add more in trading Sharp and Hjalmarsson. Also with the exception of Hossa and Campbell the rest of the core is under 30 so a few missed draft picks would not be that high of a price to pay.
Of course I don’t expect Bowman to pull the trigger on this it sure is fun to imagine.
SOURCE: http://thehockeywrit...suggestion-box/
