All Entries Tagged With: "Niemi"
Hawks Trade Reasoner…Apparently a Salary Dump
The Blackhawks traded center Marty Reasoner to Florida for center Jeff Taffe. If Taffe replaces Reasoner on the roster the net cap saving would be $600,000. Could the re-signing of Antti Niemi be coming soon?
Arbitrate This
There are many reasons why the Blackhawks are in a salary cap bind. There were a couple of big overpayments involving the Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet contracts. Another factor which isn’t brought up as much would involve players which went from earning close to the league minimum and then resigned multi-year extensions for around $3 [...]
Offer Sheet Oddities and The Panther Connection
A few weeks ago Stan Bowman seemed to be on course to complete his off season salary cap challenge. No doubt the Blackhawks weren’t going to be as deep but there appeared to be enough talent left to compete for the Western Conference crown. That was the case before the Sharks issued an offer sheet [...]
Wilson Looks To Deflate The Hawks
This shouldn’t come as a shock although it looked like the Hawks might have dodged a bullet. But Doug Wilson thought otherwise and signed Niklas Hjalmarsson to a four year, $14 million offer sheet. As was outlined a few weeks ago this possibility made as much sense as any offer sheet could. The Sharks needed to [...]
Niemi, Hjalmarsson, Probert and Some Loose Ends
The deadline for eligible RFA’s to file for arbitration was on Monday. Antti Niemi did choose to file for arbitration which should not have been a surprise. The only reason Niemi wouldn’t have done so is if his new contract was signed, sealed and delivered. From what I have heard Stan Bowman, and Niemi’s agent [...]
29 Clubs Would Trade Places With Hawks
The goal of every NHL franchise is to win the Stanley Cup. In the salary cap era each team should do whatever possible to capture the grand prize. If successful a group of talented players will evolve. Eventually all the Cup winners can’t stay together because of salary cap consequences. After every salary dumping trade [...]
Rumors and Scuttlebutt Pre-July 1
Gone are the days of a Blackhawk GM flipping a player an extra $500,000 as if he was tipping a parking attendant. The new Chicago regime will spend money but they won’t throw it around. Fortunately Stan Bowman doesn’t have to pay the bad team premium to attract or to keep players any longer. The [...]
Stan The Man
The Hawks would be in fine form if Stan Bowman can retain his top restricted free agents and not have to deal Kris Versteeg. To survive this summer by making only one big salary dumping trade would be an outstanding accomplishment. If that’s the case the NHL should hand Bowman the award for the Top [...]
Day One Comments, Day Two Possibilities
Many feel the Hawks fist round draft pick was a reach. Obviously Stan Bowman doesn’t feel the same as he traded up to acquire recent high school graduate Kevin Hayes, who plays right wing but is left handed. Bowman commented the Hawks have had their eye on Hayes since last summer. The 18 years old [...]
Friday’s Thoughts….Will Hawks Move Campbell?
Yesterday a confident Stan Bowman explained a little about where the Blackhawks are at concerning their salary cap predicament. He commented it was sad to see players go but they have been preparing for this situation for many months. Maybe Hawks management had a contingency plan in place for the all the bonuses which were [...]
What’s Next?
Stan Bowman did what he had to and got himself some breathing room heading into the draft. The young GM walked away with a well thought of prospect in Jeremy Morin, a good depth center in Marty Reasoner plus the 24th and 54th pick in the upcoming draft. Bowman’s salary cap clean-up is not over [...]
Why Trade With The Hawks?
The worse case scenario is the Hawks apparently are above next year’s cap limit even with the temporary cushion. A team can go above the salary cap by around 10% temporarily, as long as they get down to the required limit by the time the official rosters are turned into the NHL. The word going around [...]
Big Bonuses + More Changes = Shark Bait
Stan Bowman’s summer has gotten more complicated since the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. Besides the anticipated tight cap predicament for next season Bowman has to now make room for some hefty performance bonuses. It has been reported Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane will receive a total of approximately $4 million in bonuses which will count [...]
Post Parade and Some Salary Cap Reality
The parade and Stanley Cup rally are over and it was some show. I have been at many events involving huge crowds including the gigantic July 3 fireworks display at the lakefront. At no time has there been a larger crowd gathering in downtown Chicago than for the Hawks Cup celebration. On Friday morning the [...]
Deserving Blackhawks Will Compete For The Cup
It would be easy to conclude the San Jose Sharks deserved a better fate. It would also be prudent to realize the Blackhawks didn’t accomplish a sweep against the top rated team in the Western Conference by using mirrors. Credit must be given to the Hawks as they were the better team most of the [...]
Fortunate
For the first time this post season the Blackhawks were outplayed and came away with a victory. Being fortunate is not an embarrassment as the top clubs find a way to win even when they aren’t at their best. Give full marks to the San Jose Sharks coaching staff as they adjusted by splitting their top [...]
Impressive
The Blackhawks aren’t unbeatable but they are getting close, at least as far as the San Jose Sharks are concerned. The Sharks threw their best punches early but Antti Niemi didn’t flinch. In the last 10 minutes of the opening frame the Hawks began to take control and continued on for a huge win. San [...]
Niemi Shines As Hawks Won’t Be Denied
There is no need to book the marching band for the Stanley Cup parade just yet but the Blackhawks are playing well at the most important time. Sunday’s Hawks-Sharks contest was a perfect advertisement for the NHL. The match was fast paced and hard hitting. It featured great goal keeping, no fighting and was a [...]
No Changes for Hawks as Canucks Tweak Lineup
From reports this afternoon out of Vancouver by Chris Kuc and Tim Sassone…. There will be no lineup changes tonight for the Blackhawks. Vancouver will probably dress forwards Michael Grabner and Tanner Glass while sitting Pavol Demitra and Rick Rypien. Word is Kevin Bieska and Alex Burrows are going to skate with the Canucks first [...]
Some Questions Answered
Those watching the Blackhawks-Canucks series did get some answers in Game 3. Now it is apparent Antti Niemi can outduel Roberto Luongo and steal a playoff game. Dustin Byfuglien showed when determined for a full sixty minutes he is a tremendous asset. The Blackhawks proved although outplayed they can stay with their game plan and [...]
