JR wants Halak, but would it work?

Over the weekend, current NBC talking head and former Blackhawks All Star Jeremy Roenick decided it was his turn to spice up the trade rumors swirling around his former employer.

Before the Olympics, Roenick told the media that he didn’t think the current Blackhawks’ goalie duo of Cristobal Huet and Antti Niemi was good enough to win the Stanley Cup. Hopefully NBC wrote “the obvious” on the memo line of his next paycheck, because not many fans, observers, analysts or even management with the Hawks have been overwhelmingly confident in Huet this season.

The issue most people have with Niemi is his lack of experience; of course, Roenick should know better than to question a goaltender’s experience as a factor in the playoffs. After all, Roenick was a member of a Blackhawks team that put a kid in net six times in the playoffs that hadn’t stepped on the ice during the regular season. Ed Belfour went 4-2 in the 1990 playoffs before eventually winning the Calder Trophy the following season.

But Roenick decided to add his opinion to the trade rumors, and said Montreal’s Jaroslav Halák, currently playing for Slovakia in Vancouver, would be a better fit for the Hawks than Florida’s Tomas Vokoun. There are a lot of holes in Roenick’s trade proposal, many of which are simply a matter of being current.

The central issue in Montreal, and the reason they are involved in as many rumors as they are, is that both Halák and Carey Price are free agents after this season. Because both are considered above-average goalies, the assumption is that they will choose one to sign to a new deal and the other will be traded before the March 3 deadline to add on-ice quality and depth.

Roenick claimed that Halák “wants out” of Montreal because of the “Price situation.” If Roenick had done his homework, he would have realized that when Halák would have wanted out of Montreal was closer to Thanksgiving than today. Halák did reportedly tell Montreal brass that he wanted to be dealt if his long-term future was not with the Habs, but has since won the starting job from Price. Given the recent change of General Managers in Montreal, the organization is no longer as tied to Price as they once were, meaning either netminder could be dealt.

Price, in my opinion, is no better than Huet. He also would not add the desired “better” experience to the Blackhawks’ roster that would, in theory, be one of the central keys to making a deal. Yes, the Blackhawks need to save money against next year’s cap. But Stan Bowman isn’t going to sacrifice this year’s chances for a Stanley Cup just to save money next year. Moving Huet for Price would not improve the situation in net for the Hawks, and his career playoff numbers (5-10, 3.11 GAA, .896 save pct) wouldn’t make anyone sleep easier at night.

Halák, who will be 25 in mid-May, would also not bring much playoff experience to the table. He has only seen action in three playoff games in his career, but has performed well (0-1, 1.86 GAA) in those opportunities. Ironically, it was the development of Price that forced Huet out of Montreal in February of 2008. Once Huet was dealt to Washington, Halák was promoted to the NHL roster.

Another issue that Roenick fails to deal with is the payroll situation in Montreal. Currently, there are 14 players under contract for 2010-11 in Montreal with a cap number of $45.732 million. Because both Halák and Price are restricted free agents, adding Huet’s $5.625 million cap number would be a complete net addition to their bottom line; if the Hawks are in a tough financial situation right now, trading Halak for Huet would put the Habs in an equally bad situation. In Roenick’s proposed world, either the Hawks would be forced to take salary back, or Montreal would have $51.357 million committed to only 15 players. This would give them only between $4-5 million to fill their roster, meaning they wouldn’t quite be able to average $1 million per player to complete their roster.

The math doesn’t add up for the Hawks to make a deal for Halák.

There has not been a package linked to anything between the Hawks and Montreal anywhere, just speculation that the Hawks would have interest in a young goalie that might be available at the right price. Clearly, adding a contract like those of Kris Versteeg or Patrick Sharp is completely out of the question given Montreal’s cap situation, so the Hawks wouldn’t even be able to accomplish their desired salary dump in a deal with Montreal either.

For the Blackhawks, adding Halák would be an improvement on the ice over Huet but would present other issues this summer for Chicago as well as Montreal. The Blackhawks would then have to deal with both Niemi and Halák being restricted free agents. Being forced to re-sign both goalies could be an expensive proposition for the Hawks to deal with in a summer in which they still need to cut money to be under next year’s cap.

The flip side of the deal is the proposal for Vokoun. In that deal, as we discussed over the weekend, the Blackhawks would send Huet, Versteeg and Corey Crawford to Florida for Vokoun and either Denis Seidenberg or Jordan Leopold. Both Seidenberg and Leopold are free agents after this season, meaning the Hawks would be eliminating Versteeg’s $3.083 million cap number. Adding that to what the Hawks already cut in the Barker-Johnsson trade, the Hawks would be closer to their goal of cutting roughly $10 million off nexy year’s payroll (Barker also had a $3.083 cap number, and Johnsson is a free agent this summer).

Vokoun would come with a slightly higher cap number than Huet ($5.700 million), but in this case it’s the length that matters. Vokoun has only one year left on his contract after this season, while Huet has two. The significance of shedding $5.7 million off the books in the summer of 2011 is that Brent Seabrook, Dustin Byfuglien and Troy Brouwer are all scheduled to need new contracts at that time. Therefore, the immediate cap savings might not happen, but the Hawks would feel cap relief when they need it in 15 months.

So while our old buddy JR might think Halák is the right/better guy for the Hawks, the number don’t add up.

The news here isn’t that Jeremy Roenick found a microphone, but what he said.

Roenick has always been known for being “well spoken,” and on Sunday he made his first appearance as a featured guest on NBC’s NHL Game of the Week coverage between periods. When the crew broke down the USA Olympic roster, Roenick said young Blackhawks star Patrick Kane is the best American born player since Mike Modano.

Thanks, JR. No pressure there.

But Roenick’s compliments to his former team apparently ended when the cameras turned off on Sunday. Wednesday morning, Roenick appeared on ESPN 1000’s “Waddle and Silvy” show and had some choice words regarding the current Blackhawks chances in the playoffs this year. After allowing four goals to Ottawa on Tuesday night, Cristobal Huet ended up between Roenicks’ crosshairs.

“Can Huet bring them 16 games? I say no, I think he can probably get you through two rounds. To go 16 games, you need a goaltender that is going to stand on his head and is going to steal games.”

Roenick also spoke about backup netminder Antti Niemi, saying, “Niemi is a good goaltender too, don’t get me wrong, they just need that one little extra boost in goal that I think that would make the guys more confident in front of him. And if those guys are even more confident than they are right now, that team will be unbeatable. They are still two good goaltenders, but I don’t know if they could do it for the full 16 wins.”

Neither statement reads like much of a vote of confidence. Roenick went on to say that he thinks the Hawks could “get by” with Huet and Niemi and net, saying the skaters are good enough to make up for questionable goaltending. He also said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Blackhawks traded for an elite goalie before the March 3 deadline. After all, as Roenick said, “I’m telling you, that team is poised this year to win a Stanley Cup as good as they are.”

The more time Roenick spends in front of a microphone with his former team in first place, the more questions he’ll have to answer about these Blackhawks. Given Roenick’s track record for saying any, and everything, the next few months could be a lot of fun.

Sunday night, the Blackhawks will celebrate the career of Jeremy Roenick by honoring him with a “Heritage Night.” The thought of celebrating Roenick’s career got the wheels turning… so many memories, so many great highlights, such an ugly divorce.

What do you remember most about the Jeremy Roenick Era of the Chicago Blackhawks?

Roenick was drafted eighth overall in 1988 and climbed to the NHL level late that season. He pitched in 18 points in 20 games and was effective in the playoffs his rookie season.

Roenick’s first full season in the NHL, 1989-90, saw him score 26 goals and 40 assists as the Blackhawks improved 22 points in the standings. He was starting to establish himself as a leader on an aging team that was going through some dramatic changes.

After the 1990 season, in part because of Roenick’s emergence as a scoring threat, the Blackhawks traded long-time fan favorite Denis Savard to Montreal for Chris Chelios and a second round draft pick. Roenick backed up the faith (or penny pinching) or management in 1990-91 by scoring 41 goals, 53 assists (94 points) and he was selected to play in the legendary All Star Game at the Chicago Stadium that season. The Hawks jumped another 18 points to win the Presidents’ Trophy.

During the ‘90-’91 season, Roenick led the team with 10 game-winning goals, and he teamed up with Steve Larmer (who had 101 points that year) to give the Hawks one of the most potent offenses in the league.

The next season, 1991-92, was magic for the Blackhawks, as they advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Roenick scored 103 points that year (53 goals, 50 assists). He played in his second All Star Game, and was firmly established as one of the elite scoring forwards in the NHL.

The two seasons that followed that campaign made Roenick a legend in Chicago and a league-wide household name. JR had back-to-back 107-point seasons. That total was the highest for a Blackhawks player not named Savard since Bobby Hull’s incredible 107-point season in 1968-69.

Despite the team’s successes of the early 1990s, this was a time filled with frustration from Hawks players and the fans. The trade of Savard for Chelios ended up bringing another eventual Chicago legend home, but unloading one of the best players in franchise history wasn’t the easiest trade to stomach.

Again in large part due to Roenick having established himself as the team’s top scorer, the team moved another fan favorite, Steve Larmer, with Bryan March to Hartford for Eric Weinrich and Patrick Poulin, on November 2, 1993. Larmer hadn’t missed a game, or the playoffs, in a Chicago uniform in over a decade, but Dollar Bill Wirtz was beginning to show an unwillingness to keep a great core together. Larmer wanted to win the Cup, and Wirtz wasn’t showing any signs of keeping the Hawks competitive.

The reasons for Larmer’s departure seemed to effect many of the young Hawks as they entered the mid-1990s. So did Wirtz being one of the most recklessly cheap owners in the history of professional sports.

That 1993-94 season was Roenick’s fourth All Star Game, and he set career highs in power play goals (24) and short handed goals (five). He was +21, and ranked by a number of major publications as one of the top players in the league. But the Hawks fell back further in the standings, something Larmer wanted nothing to do with, and it was appearing that an implosion of the roster was coming.

It was in 1994 that Roenick took another step in his evolution as a legend: NHL ‘94 made Roenick a god.

In the movie “Swingers,” Vince Vaughn absolutely wrecks another guy on the game, referring to Roenick by name a couple times (including a supposed fight between Roenick and Wayne Gretzky on the great video game). It will be interesting to see if Vaughn, who was in attendance on Wednesday night at the United Center, makes another appearance for Roenick’s Heritage Night on Sunday.

Another development that began the erosion of Roenick’s roster status in Chicago in 1993-94 was the arrival of Tony Amonte. Just as Roenick did with Savard and Larmer, over the next couple seasons it would be Amonte’s talent, coupled with Roenick’s expiring contract, started to make the superstar expendable.

Roenick didn’t help himself, though. During the strike, Roenick infamously told the media that fans believing pro athletes were spoiled could “kiss my ass.” Unfortunately, pairing Roenick’s fan-directed comments with Wirtz was poison to a great fan base.

The final issue that would haunt the Blackhawks franchise was Wirtz’s disrespect for his players and the fans after the strike that shortened the 1994-95 season. Roenick scored 34 points in 33 games that season season (despite missing 15 games with leg issues), and the Hawks advanced all the way to the Conference Finals again. But 1995-96 was the final year of Roenick’s contract, and would be the end of his Chicago career.

Despite missing the final 11 games in 1996, Roenick led the team with 32 goals. When that season ended, Roenick ranked eighth all time with 596 points for the Blackhawks organization. His 267 goals were sixth all time (eventually eclipsed by one by Amonte), and he ranked in the organization’s top ten in assists as well.

That wasn’t good enough for Wirtz, though. Roenick wanted to get paid like a Top Ten hockey player, and Wirtz was running (and paying for) a Bottom Ten organization.

Roenick was traded to Phoenix on August 16, 1996 for Alexei Zhamnov and Craig Mills.

While the the organization tried to spin this as a move forward, it was clear that Bob Pulford and Wirtz were destroying what was one of the best young teams in the NHL piece by piece. Over the next three seasons, the Hawks would unload Ed Belfour, Chris Chelios and most of their paying fans in an effort to become an anonymous, losing franchise.

Roenick was sold as “washed up” and having lost a step on the ice, but Phoenix knew better. Roenick played in five All Star Games in the 12 seasons he played after leaving Chicago, and would prove to be a clutch playoff performer time after time.

Roenick would also continue stirring the pot after leaving Chicago. Even in his final season, one that saw him as an irrelevant player on the ice, Roenick made headlines when he claimed that Detroit head coach Mike Babcock hated American players, and refused to play Chelios because he was born in the US.

Do you remember Roenick for being a great scorer?

Do you remember Roenick for being one of those Chicago players that “got away”?

Do you remember Roenick for being a controversy waiting to happen?

Or…

Do you remember Roenick for being a god on NHL ‘94?

The point isn’t whether or not you remember Roenick, it’s how he’s placed in your memory. There is no questioning Roenick’s place among the great Blackhawks of all time, and Sunday night the team will celebrate his achievements.