UPDATE: Toews, Kane sign 5 year deals, Keith signs a 13 year deal

As official representative of the Chicago Blackhawks at GMHockey, I am privileged to bring you this special greeting from William "Scotty" Bowman.

@Shabbs> and don't you go dissin' Stan the Man.

They don't take kindly to wiseguys in Chicago.

Things could happen. I don't want to say what. Things.

[quote="beedub"]

davetherave wrote:

shabbs wrote:So, how is Bowman going to pull this off... capgeek.com is reporting they have $13,472,126 in cap space next season with roster size of 13.

If Kane and Toews bring an expected cap hit of $6M each, there's $12M gone... leaving $1,472,126 to sign Keith and a minimum of 4 others to get to a 20-man roster.

DTR... what do YOU see hapening? How is Bowman going to make it all fit? Who's most likely to be moved?

Let us revisit this awesome pic one more time...


@Shabbs> you're SUCH a kidder!



I'll make sure Stan gets your message.

It's got to be Campbell ++

probably will be. but to whom? some of us would like him here and surely a few other teams will show interest but will they wait till the summer or fear that it will be too late?

davetherave wrote:@Shabbs> and don't you go dissin' Stan the Man.

They don't take kindly to wiseguys in Chicago.

Things could happen. I don't want to say what. Things.

Where do I sign up? She can whip me any day...

@Shabbs> be careful what you wish for...Mistress Michelle is very demanding.

davetherave wrote:@Shabbs> be careful what you wish for...Mistress Michelle is very demanding.

She also looks very sad... hopefully I can cheer her up.

OK, people seem to want to know what I think the Blackhawks are going to do.

First off, there has never been any doubt that the Hawks want to secure Toews, Kane and Keith, and that they would make every effort to do so.

Toews and Kane want to stay in Chicago, and they have been clear about that.

If Keith, a potential Norris Trophy winner sometime in the future, and the Hawks want to sign a 'career deal', why not? Zetterberg did in Detroit, and Alfie has effectively signed one in Ottawa.

Now, about the numbers coming out of TSN. Keep something in mind: TSN is not exactly a trusted source for info on the Hawks.

After the Pierre McGuire fiasco in the playoffs, and Darren Dreger's media crucification of Patrick Kane, as well as their hammering of the RFA mailing and constant wailing about the Hawks' "Cap Crisis", I doubt very much the Hawks' front office gives TSN anything.

So whatever TSN reports is hearsay.

Maybe the numbers are in the ballpark, maybe not.

TSN only cares that the hockey fanbase gives them higher TV ratings and more clicks on their website....they don't give a rat's rear about the truth.

So, if everybody wants to speculate on the rumours that TSN propagates, so be it.

Now--to the facts.

Stan Bowman was appointed GM to bring the player budget into line. No doubt about it, the salary cap is a major challenge. But it's a major challenge for every elite NHL team, and several who aren't elite.

Bowman's stated priorities include:

> securing the core players
> explore opportunities to move contracts that aren't delivering optimum value
> make sure the Hawks' talent is turned over so young players get a chance to move up

Anyone who looks at the list of Free Agents for 2010 will see there are a significant amount of players who might move.

There are teams who will have needs because they are losing free agents, and the Blackhawks have a very attractive group of players with reasonable contracts between $2-4 million. There will be no shortage of buyers for those players.

The goalie and defenseman markets will continue to rise out of proportion to the available talent, and both Campbell and Huet will be viable options for certain teams.

There are also franchises that need to turn themselves around. In the case of the Islanders, Atlanta, Tampa and Florida, for example, these teams need playoff revenue in a major way.

Some of these teams have ample cap room.

All of the above factors, create a number of potential trading partners for the Blackhawks.

Bowman and Hawks management have been evaluating the current situation since Dale Tallon was re-assigned, and they have probably developed a number of different scenarios.

A lot can happen from now until next October, which is when the Hawks have to comply with the 2010 salary cap.

So if you ask me what I think the Hawks are or aren't going to do, it really depends on so many variables.

There is no simple answer.

And that is why very smart people like Stan Bowman get paid big money to do a very difficult job.

As a Hawks fan, I care about one thing. That this is an entertaining and competitive team. They are, and there is no reason to believe they won't continue to be that.

If you ask what MY sources are, I can tell you only they are as good as, if not better than, TSN's.

Have an excellent evening, everyone.

Heh. In true DTR fashion... clear as mud.



No doubt the core will be locked up. Makes sense, every team does it.

It will be interesting to see what pieces are moved out to free space. Some nice, very desirable talent on that roster. I'm sure the offers will be coming from all over the NHL.

And that, is what I think.

Remember when Ottawa lost Havlat, Chara and Hasek in one off-season because they weren't part of the "core"?

Ouch.

On the other hand, we also subsequently made the Cup Finals.

I don't think DTR's covering his meaning much here.

It's a valid point: the 'Hawks have a lot of depth talent that would be desirable for a number of teams: Barker, Versteeg, Sharp, Byfuglien, etc. Madden can be dumped as well.

I'm more dubious about being able to get rid of Campbell and Huet, though. And while it's probably doable to re-sign TKK and keep those two, if you factor in Hossa's money as well, they won't have any room for depth.

Of course, that's what we said about the Sharks when they acquired ____, and they seem to be doing alright so far.

asq2 wrote:Remember when Ottawa lost Havlat, Chara and Hasek in one off-season because they weren't part of the "core"?

Ouch.

On the other hand, we also subsequently made the Cup Finals.

Remember when we subsequently tanked following that Cup Finals?

Yes, but that's because we were foolish enough to let Tom Preissing and Joe Corvo go.

Point taken.

I'm pretty sure it was all about the Oleg "super" Saprykin He is what made that team tick.

That being said, signing Keith is like making sure Chara never gets away, and Toews has way more character than Spezza did at that age (and maybe does now). Kane is also much more dynamic now than Heatley, and Hossa is at least as productive now as Alfie has been for the past two years---plus he's younger. Huet is like a much more temperate Emery thats just massively overpaid.

No reason why they should suffer the same fate.

Gohan wrote:

asq2 wrote:Remember when Ottawa lost Havlat, Chara and Hasek in one off-season because they weren't part of the "core"?

Ouch.

On the other hand, we also subsequently made the Cup Finals.

Remember when we subsequently tanked following that Cup Finals?

But man did we have a great start to that season eh? We Diddling OWNED those first 19 games.

shabbs wrote:Heh. In true DTR fashion... clear as mud.



No doubt the core will be locked up. Makes sense, every team does it.

It will be interesting to see what pieces are moved out to free space. Some nice, very desirable talent on that roster. I'm sure the offers will be coming from all over the NHL.

And that, is what I think.

@Shabbs> Mistress Michelle is more your style, eh.

davetherave wrote:

shabbs wrote:Heh. In true DTR fashion... clear as mud.



No doubt the core will be locked up. Makes sense, every team does it.

It will be interesting to see what pieces are moved out to free space. Some nice, very desirable talent on that roster. I'm sure the offers will be coming from all over the NHL.

And that, is what I think.

@Shabbs> Mistress Michelle is more your style, eh.

I'll tell you after I meet her...

shabbs wrote:

Gohan wrote:

asq2 wrote:Remember when Ottawa lost Havlat, Chara and Hasek in one off-season because they weren't part of the "core"?

Ouch.

On the other hand, we also subsequently made the Cup Finals.

Remember when we subsequently tanked following that Cup Finals?

But man did we have a great start to that season eh? We Diddling OWNED those first 19 games.

It was a little bit more like 14 games we were .500 for the next 6 to get to 16-4