As the Blackhawks prepare to host the Nashville Predators Friday night, there’s an awkward silence coming from Chicago.
Yesterday, obviously, was one of the most important days in Blackhawks’ history, as the team announced contract extensions for Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kand and Duncan Keith. The excitement leading up to that announcement, and the anticipation of the potential the future could bring with these three young stars locked up, was something the Hawks fans have been begging for since 1962.
But the other side of the excitement was the rumors that the Blackhawks had to make a deal to make the three contracts happen during the season. The “tagging” rule was an issue the Blackhawks allegedly had to deal with, and it was reportedly going to force GM Stan Bowman to move at least one, if not two players before the ink was dry.
Reports on Friday morning, however, are that Bowman and others from the Blackhawks’ front office met with NHL officials to review the Hawks salary obligations in 2009-10 and beyond, and received league clearance to finalize the three new contracts without being obligated to cut payroll.
That means the trade rumors swirling around Cam Barker, Patrick Sharp and, especially, Brent Sopel should die down for at least a little while.
However, just because the league was OK with the Hawks new deals happening new without a deal doesn’t mean the Hawks are in a financial position without issue moving forward. Adding the three new deals puts the Blackhawks’ salary cap number at $60.6 million heading to next year before addressing the pending free agencies of players like Niklas Hjalmarsson, Andrew Ladd, Antti Niemi, Colin Fraser, Ben Eager, John Madden and Adam Burish. Expectations are that the NHL will lower the salary cap for 2010-11 from the current $56.8 million.
Which means the Hawks will need to move salary just to put a complete roster on the ice next year, much less have any depth.
There’s no doubt that rumors will continue to swirl around a number of Blackhawks, including Barker, Sharp, Sopel, Dustin Byfuglien and Kris Versteeg, all of whom are signed through next season. Realistic expectations should be that two players from this list are not with the team next year because of salary constraints, and those players might still be moved during this season.
But what’s important now is that, if the Hawks opt to keep the current roster together through the playoffs, they can do so. The way these Hawks are playing, that’s a relief.
The Chicago Blackhawks have scheduled a 2 p.m. press conference at the United Center to formally announce new contracts for Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith.
It’s believed that the initially reported years (five each for Kane and Toews, 13 for Keith) are the lengths of the deals. TSN’s Darren Dreger is reporting Wednesday night that Kane and Toews’ deals will average $6.3 million per season, while Keith’s will average $5.54 million. Another rumor was that the NHL was reviewing Keith’s deal closely because of issues the league, and players’ association, had with longer deals like the one Marian Hossa received from the Hawks this summer. ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun is reporting that the league has approved Keith’s contract, though.
TSN is also reporting that the Blackhawks have not cleared the “tagging room” hurdle, however. That means another move could come as early as tonight to clear cap space on next year’s payroll. Rumors have swirled recently including Cam Barker, Brent Sopel and Patrick Sharp. The Hawks likely will need to either trade a player or move one through waivers to make space for the new deals.
As more information becomes available, we’ll update you with the latest.
In July, Patrick Sharp was allegedly drawing interest.
As we discussed on CommittedIndians yesterday, there has been some trade speculation centering around the Chicago Blackhawks recently that’s starting to draw some attention from all over the media world. Two specific writers, though, appear to be keeping tabs on each other’s work.
In yesterday’s article, it was noted that John Jaeckel is reporting for Hockey Buzz that the Hawks have had discussions with both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Carolina Hurricanes regarding a laundry list of players. The most prominent name on the list has been defenseman Tomas Kaberle of Toronto.
Jaeckel begins his piece, dated Nov. 3, by saying “This is what I am hearing from a reliable source.”
Today, in what appears to be a direct response to Jaeckel’s blog, Tim Sassone of The Daily Herald has come out with an article of his own, categorically denying the rumors. He says Toronto GM Brian Burke has not spoken with the Blackhawks about any potential deal, and that the Hurricanes don’t have any players that make sense for the Blackhawks to add (which I agreed with yesterday).
“A blogger writes the Blackhawks are on the verge of making a major trade, citing a reliable source, and all heck breaks loose Wednesday,” Sassone says. “I think somebody needs to check his reliable source.”
This banter is particularly intriguing because one of the first reports to bring suspicion to a potential Hawks-Leafs trade was from Sassone himself, back in early July. In that piece, Sassone connects the dots between the Leafs having a bounty of good defensemen, including Kaberle, and the Hawks having a plethora of forwards, many of whom could entice Burke and Toronto.
In fact, Sassone quotes Burke directly in the July article, and references rumors from the summer that then-Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon and Burke had been linked. Sassone points out that Kaberle’s salary cap number ($4.25M) is just a quarter-million more than Patrick Sharp ($4M).
Now Tallon is no longer the Blackhawks GM, and Sassone is denying any of the rumored talks he found to be a firm enough allegation to report on just four short months ago.
Whether or not discussions have taken place, or to what level those discussions have progressed, is up for discussion. What hasn’t changed, though, is the apparent fit of the two teams in question.
