This time last year, San Jose Sharks' GM Doug Wilson signed Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson to an offer sheet, good for 4 years at $3.5 million a year.
The Hawks, as we know, matched the offer, and Hjalmarsson stayed put. The Hawks matched the offer on July 12. Tuesday will be the one-year anniversary of the match.
Why is that important, you ask? Because players can't be traded until one year after they sign an unmatched offer sheet, or one year after the offer is matched. In other words, Hawks GM Stan Bowman can put Hjalmarsson on the trading block come Tuesday.
Does this mean he will? Who knows. There are two basic rules in hockey - never trade your core and never trade your bargains. Based upon some of the contracts given out to defensemen this summer, Hjalmarsson's deal is downright thrifty.
So far, there have been zero offer sheets offered. Will the Hawks offer one up? Who knows. I can tell you this - nobody is going to throw one at Steven Stamkos. You can believe that. Tampa has plenty of cap space, and Steve Yzerman knows the value of a studly young franchise player. Unless you want to force Stevie Y into matching a $10 million/per sheet, there's not much point.
Most teams would rather trade than do offer sheets (see: Kessel, Phil), because you have a little more flexibility - if the Sharks had traded for Hjalmarsson, they could have conceivable traded him mid-season if Wilson saw fit.
Now, back to the Hawks. They got their most important RFAs locked up early - Brent Seabrook during the season and Corey Crawford immediately afterward. They still have three unsigned - Michael Frolik, Viktor Stalberg and Chris Campoli.
At this point, the Hawks can ice a 21 man roster of all signed players, and still have over $7 million in cap space. Using the Capgeek calculator, the team would look like this:
CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR
FORWARDS
Patrick Kane ($6.300m) / Jonathan Toews ($6.300m) / Marian Hossa ($5.275m)
Patrick Sharp ($3.900m) / Dave Bolland ($3.375m) / Rostislav Olesz ($3.125m)
Andrew Brunette ($2.000m) / Marcus Kruger ($0.900m) / Ben Smith ($0.812m)
Daniel Carcillo ($0.775m) / Jamal Mayers ($0.550m) / Bryan Bickell ($0.541m)
DEFENSEMEN
Brent Seabrook ($5.800m) / Duncan Keith ($5.538m)
Niklas Hjalmarsson ($3.500m) / Steve Montador ($2.750m)
Nick Leddy ($1.116m) / Sean O'Donnell ($0.850m)
John Scott ($0.512m)
GOALTENDERS
Corey Crawford ($2.666m) / Alexander Salak ($0.612m)
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $57,200,962; BONUSES: $730,000
CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $7,099,038
Bear in mind, there's no way the Hawks' lines would resemble those in any way. But, at least the Hawks have the luxury of not negotiating from a position of weakness. Bowman has said he expects to sign Frolik and Campoli. There's also no Jeremy Morin on that roster.
So there could conceivably be 25 guys, if all three RFAs sign and you include Morin. The first logical move would be for Kruger to go to Rockford. You might even see Morin start off there, since he lost half a season following a concussion.
But there's still no honest-to-God second line center.Stan could quite possibly offer sheet somebody, but based upon his surplus of players, a trade seems more likely.
The Hawks could very well wind up with a glut on the blue line, with players like Dylan Olsen and Ryan Stanton getting close. They need to look for a team that needs blue line help, and has a surplus of centers.
Stay tuned, but I expect Stan to have a phone call with Glen Sather fairly soon. Not only do the Rangers not have enough depth on defense, but with Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan both still unsigned RFAs, there might be something there for Stan.
Time will tell if I'm right on this one.
