Niemi gifted $2.75m from arbitrator

Well, the news of Antti Niemi have finally come down. What do the Hawks do now?
Well, we know they should find a magic rainbow in the sky so they can unload Brian Campbell's salary. The most overrated player in the NHL,...by the way.
Since that isn't likely to happen, what can Stan Bowman do now?

1) Eliminate 5.625m of Huet's salary and Keep 2.75m of Niemi's salary. ~2.9 m left. NOT enough.

2)This probably means that Kyle Beach and his 1.2m cap hit won't be on the team.

3)This could mean that Tomas Kopecky could be traded away to allow 5-700K more ...2 players on the roster instead of 1. Trade Tomas for a future consideration. Then put two players on the roster.

4) Since Tallon created this mess, we should trade Campbell to the Florida Panthers....Sorry, I keep bringing this up. Dale Tallon completely messed up the Chicago Blackhawks chances under the current salary cap guidelines they have now. Paying 12.7m for two athletes that aren't worth a bushel of hay is beyond comprehension. Hawks deserve this. They put someone in a position that should have never been there to begin with. Now,..NOW I know why he was fired. They just did it a little too late.

5) Troy Brouwer could be the alternate to go ,...but I doubt it.. He's just over 1.0m and that isn't the issue. Maybe the much talented Dave Bolland and his 3.375m can be dealt for future stars and/or picks.

6) IF the Hawks don't do Anything but demote Huet, then they will be penny pinching.
~2.9 m means they can bring up Toivonen, 700k, Taffe (Who they just grabbed from Florida), 500k, Lalonde (800k), Leddy(800k), ...other options would be Makarov (552k), Kruger (800k),
and a strong possibility in Dowell (600k).

The Blackhawks: Summer of Shuffle

Since this is my very first blog here on blogger.com, I felt it should be relevant to what I enjoy most; My Chicago Blackhawks.

25Jul10: Let us review to date what has been going on. Let's start chronologically from the Stanley cup victory.



24June10: Hawks first big deal: Hawks send Dustin
Byfuglien, Brent Sopel ,Ben Eager and prospect Akim Aliu to Atlanta for: Marty Reasoner, Top prospect: Jeremy Morin and Joey Crabb who played and starred for the Chicago Wolves last season with 53 points in 79 games. In 3 seasons with the Wolves Crabb has 139 points in 256 games. About 1/2 a point per game,...and he was the throw in in this deal.
(Jeremy Morin and Joey Crabb)

30Jun10: Hawks send Kris Versteeg and 2nd rounder from 2007 Bill Sweatt who just finished up his senior season at Colorado College where he had 33 pts in 39 contests.
In exchange, the Hawks got: Viktor Stalberg (pictured above), who obviously was the key to this trade, along with 2 minor league prospects; extremely undersized Toronto native: Chris DiDominico who was a point a game at QMJHL's Drummondville Voltigeurs. Philippe Paradis a first round pick by Carolina in last years pick is known to light up the lamp and not afraid to drop the gloves either.
Pretty much an even exchange of talent with the Hawks shedding another of their 3 million dollar salaried guys,...Byfuglien being the first.

01Jul10: Not even a week later, the Hawks weren't done shedding those 3million dollar salaried guys. This time the recipient was: Atlanta,...again. They received Andrew Ladd; now a two time Stanley Cup champion (first with Carolina).
The Hawks receive in return: defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy (pictured above in Stars uniform)
and a second round pick for next years (2011) draft. Vishnewvskiy played in the NHL briefly with the Dallas stars, but the Hawks got a good look at him as well, for he played much of his time with the Chicago Wolves last season. He did get 36 points in 79 games. Those are not bad stats for a defenseman.

02Jul10: Hawks sign a big defenseman who played with the Minnesota Wild for a 2 year contract at the leagues minimum. Not sure how many times he'll dress, but he's a part of the team. His name is John Scott. 6'8" tall.

09Jul10: San Jose Sharks offer Niklas Hjalmarsson a 4 year $14m offer ($3.5m yearly), which the Hawks matched a week later.

22Jul10: Hawks trade the newly acquired Marty Reasoner for Jeff Taffe (pictured below)who played with the Rochester Americans most of last year but also played for the Florida Panthers.

Hawks re-sign Jack Skille to a 1yr. $600k contract, and re-sign Bryan Bickell to a 3yr. 1.625m contract. Well done on Stan Bowman's part.


Hawks still need to deal with the Antti Niemi contract issue that is going to be front and center on July 29,2010 as he is headed for arbitration. The word on the street is that he and Agent Zito are looking closer to $4m as the Hawks are looking closer to $2.5m the 2.5 million would allow the Hawks to shed Huet's contract of 5.625m and still have approx. $3m to finish off their roster.

The Hawks got dinged 4.1m in bonuses given from contracts that directly affect this years contract. Next year, assuming they don't win the cup, this is restoration money that will be allowed to sign Seabrook, Sharp, Brouwer and perhaps Skille to a new contract. How many of those names will be here in 2011-2012 is beyond our guess.

The Chicago Blackhawks are really hogtied with financial constraints due to some bad decisions made two years ago by former GM Dale Tallon when he extremely overpaid for Cristobal Huet and Brian Campbell. Nearly 12.7m is tied up in athletes that should be around 5m -6m total. Now Tallon is out and the Hawks have to scrap like never before. They probably didn't forsee the 4.1m being used because they didn't think they were going to win this early. Well, surprise !

So, the Hawks may have to let go of Antti Niemi, although that isn't going to be their intention by any means. They sign Niemi, and they make another run with a solid 16 players + on their team with really good quality. If they can't resign him, then look for a few things to happen.
Either the Hawks go for Theodore or Turco at the 2.5m they need to be at, or they bring up Corey Crawford and Hannu Toivonen who can BOTH fill that slot under 2.5m

They need that 3.125m to sign the remaining players or to be able to pay the remaining signed players that are in the system. (5.625 from Huet off the books as he gets demoted to Rockford,
and the 2.5 they have to be at in order to pay the remaining players. The difference is the 3.125m). Here are a few players up for those remaining spots. Beach 1.2m, Lalonde 600k, Makarov 550k, Dowell 525k, Toivonen 550k, Crawford 750k, Kruger 735k, Hendry RFA, Vishnevskiy 850k, Carlsson 565k, Jasson Cullimore 500k, Nick Leddy free-agent (whom I truly hope the Hawks sign, for he may have been top 3 players in camp).


This is Your current Roster:
Toews, Kane, Sharp, Hossa, Bolland Brouwer, Skille, Bickell, Stalberg, Kopecky,Jaffe
Keith, Seabrook, Hjalmarsson, Campbell, Scott,
Niemi . (To-Be-Determined)

Toivonen, Dowell, Hendry, Lalonde, Vishnevskiey. = 3.2m approx. IF the Hawks let go of Niemi, then they will bring up both goaltenders, and Beach too, for he's NHL ready.

I am interested in seeing how this summer of turmoil plays out. Now, all of you out there know how important a GM's job is. They can literally screw it up like Dale Tallon did. Then walk unscathed because the general public doesn't know it was them. Good luck Hawks.
GLB