Chicago Blackhawks: The Perfect Remedy To Their Goalie Problems
Corey Crawford has struggled lately, and Ray Emery is only signed to a one-year deal. If the Blackhawks continue having problems between the pipes, what should they do moving forward?
Perhaps they should take a page out of Doug Wilson’s book.
This summer presents a unique opportunity for the Blackhawks to potentially improve their situation while effectively screwing a rival at the same time.
Offer sheet.
Cory Schneider.
Yes, Chicago is all-too familiar with the concept of an offer sheet. Former Hawks’ defenseman Doug Wilson, the GM in San Jose, threw an offer sheet at Niklas Hjalmarsson after the Blackhawks won the Cup, and the deal was likely more expensive in dollars and years than the Hawks would have preferred giving him at that point.
When Hjalmarsson signed the offer sheet, the Blackhawks had to choose between a young defenseman and the draft pick compensation they would receive from the Sharks.
Obviously, they chose the player over the picks.
This summer, the Vancouver Canucks have a tough decision to make. And the Blackhawks should make it harder on them.
Cory Schneider will be a restricted free agent this summer. He’s proven to be as good as there is in the NHL while backing up Roberto Luongo, but the Canucks face a tough cap situation this summer.
Vancouver has roughly $55M committed to 16 players for next year already, and there are rumors that the cap might not go up next year (some are saying it might actually go down). If we use a baseline of a $64M cap, the Canucks would have $9M to spend on four players just to fill out a 20-man roster.
Chicago could have the financial flexibility to make life nearly impossible for their hated rivals with an offer sheet.
The Blackhawks have under $54M committed to 16 players at the NHL level for next year today, but have less expensive youngsters they can plug in at a number of positions to fill their roster.
If the Hawks offered Schneider a four-year, $18M deal, and he accepted it, the Canucks would likely be forced to let him walk. If Vancouver matched a $4.5M cap number, they would need to clear additional cap space by trading or buying out a veteran.
The Blackhawks could compromise a rival’s roster and potentially improve their own by making a play for Schneider this summer.
That is a horrible idea. Please delete this article!
I agree.
You agree with the fake account someone used under the name of the GM of the Canucks… or you agree with the article, Logan?
Sounds like a great idea Tab!
Lol…Good point, Tab.
But I do think its a bad idea. Sorry. It comes off as trying too much more as trying to ‘get Vancouver’ than anything else.
I like Corey Schneider but throwing that kinda money when he still hasn’t officially been a number one yet seems silly. Heck, we kinda just did that with Crawford, did we not and look how he’s doing on his new contract?
With Niemi…it was Hjalmarsson they signed, not Niemi. I honestly believe they were trying to get Hjalmarsson and not this strategy of ‘Haha. Suckers. We want Niemi all along.’ Look what they offered Niemi last year…one year deal that really wasn’t that much.
Thing was, Niemi won a Stanley Cup. Schneider? Last I looked I see no rings on those fingers.
I agree with this. Cory Schneider deserves to be a #1 goalie somewhere, and Vancouver doesn’t seem to want to give up Luongo and even if they did, no one would want his contract. It is a bit of a concern to offer a goalie who has never been a starter that much for that long but Schneider has a promising future and I think he could start off as the backup and take the spot from Crawford (he won’t be going anywhere) as the season goes on.
I think it is a great idea…
That doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Despite the fact that he plays for the Canuck cretins and got clowned in Game 6 last year, he is a better goalie than their current euro-trash goalie they have now and Vancouver is stuck with #1 right now.
This is probably just a bad slump Corey Crawford is in right now. The defense really does him no favors and he played well last year with a defense that had the same flaws as they have today. He is probably just below the level of Antti Niemi but in today’s league, decent goaltending is possessed by the majority of the teams and the Blackhawks have sufficient goaltending even now. The Hawks could get better and this would be a good way to go. If money were no object, Schneider would be starting for the Canucks.
This team does need a lot of help. This could be a good move to make in the offseason. For now, this team needs a D-man and they need to stop losing games. This team is underperforming again and I would rather see prospects on the ice than bums. Too many bums.
Hahaha. We would have “the 2 Corey’s”. It could be the marketing teams dream. Yes, I know, only ours with an “e”, but still funny. It’s an intriguing idea, Tab, and unfortunately I’m getting nervous about the possible long spring/summer ahead.
Mike Gillis is a tool.
Excellent Idea, I am wondering how the Canucks would react……but, for now, this sounds like a great idea. He’s a solid goalie too!!!
what would the compensation be in terms of picks?
Tab, with this is mind….would you do this, resign emery as back up for next year and trade crawford, all over the summer?
IMO Emery will get a shot at a better gig somewhere outside Chicago next year than he’ll get here. As an unrestriced free agent, I don’t expect him to be back. With that being said, however, if the Hawks did make a play for Schneider the assumption would be that Crawford’s days in Chicago would be numbered.
come on guys admit it, crawford gives up too many rebounds and is too slow going post to post for an nhl goalie -bring in a real goalie
come on guys admit it, crawford gives up too many rebounds and is too slow going post to post for an nhl goalie -bring in a real goalie.
There is no sophomore slump, Crawford is at best a AHL caliber goalie……With contracts like kippursoft coming up the Hawks need to seriously consider making an offer on a top name goalie. We can’t keep blaming the D becasue there are games where your goalie has to keep you in contention, and not let in bouncers from center ice, or even the blue line
If we turn into sellers, one thought might be to go after the offensively in-ept Kings. What would fair market value be for Bernier and Jack Johnson? Stalberg, Morin, LaLonde and Pick?