The Scolumn

Blackhawks cap situation going forward
By Sconn
-For NRS

Like a kid overdoing it in a candy store, the Blackhawks may have post-spending bellyaches. With the current PR disaster of firing a seemingly-competent former general manager in Dale Tallon, the Hawks trip to the conference finals is little more than a distant memory after recent recollections of front office blunders and free agent overspending..
Going into this season (as of July 20) the Hawks have roughly $61-million commited to the 25 players on their 2009-10 roster. This is well over the current salary cap of $56.7-million and must be figured out immediately. It's an easy enough fix for them, just trade out some salary or get creative burying contracts in the AHL.
What's really concerning is the salary cap situation going into 2010-11. What most people already know is that the team's two best forwards and best defenceman are coming up for restricted free agent status - Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith. That's a lot of money they're going to need to shore up.
What some people aren't aware of is that the Hawks already have over $43-million commited to just 13(!) players for next season. Those 13 players DON'T include: John Madden, Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager, Adam Burish, Colin Fraser, Niklas Hjarmlsson and the afforementioned three cornerstones. With the cap taking a nosedive next season - regardless of the current recession since cap numbers are set by the previous season - the recent hockey renaissance in the Windy City could be blowing out of town alot sooner than expected.
Nevermind that the Hawks have talent still getting cranked out of their Rockford affiliate of the AHL, but the raises to the Hawks big three could be enough for the franchise to be looking for a bailout.
Captain Jonathan Toews, just 21 years old, looks to get the biggest raise from his $2.8-million entry level deal. He turned up his goal production from 24 goals in his rookie season to 34 goals last season defusing any thought of a sophmore slump for the kid from Winnipeg. He also managed to play in all 82 games while maintaining a respectable +12 rating. In terms of numbers, two players come to mind: Paul Stastny and Ryan Getzlaf. While both have better offensive numbers, both are of similar age and importance to their western conference clubs. Neither are captain for their team. Their cap hits are $6.6-million for Stastny and $5.325 for Getzlaf- Toews looks to make somewhere in the middle around $6-million over 5 years.
Sparkplug Patrick Kane's small stature hasn't been the bane to his NHL existence pundits said it would be when this kid went first overall three drafts ago. "Kaner" has missed just two games in the last two seasons while putting up a 71 and 70 point years. At just 20, Kane looks to continue to improve for at least two more years before leveling off. The durible winger looks to make around what Corey Perry of the Ducks makes - $5.325-million if he takes a very charitible hometown discount. Look for deal closer to 5.75 over a 6 or 7 year term.
Defenseman Duncan Keith, who continues his steady improvement, had a great 44 point season while posting a +33 rating and played in the all-star game in Montreal. His great peroformance carried into the post season where he not only further proved himself the best defenseman on the team but did well to improve the size of the contract extension they (or someone else) will sign him to. While his numbers look similar to Johnny Oduya and Tom Gilbert's - who make $3-million and $4-million per year respectively - Keith is the only of the Chicago three who is eligible for salary arbitration which is a great help for players to get the upper limit of what they should be paid. I highly doubt the Hawks will let it get to that but you can bet Duncan and his agent have that in hand and mind to get the dollar figure they want. Look for Keith to snag a $5.25-million dollar deal over 5 years, which is a steal.
So if you think about it, the hawks will need to spend somewhere in the neighbourhood of between $14-million and $18-million to rein in their captain, star winger and shutdown defenceman. It's a tall order, made worse by the uber-long terms given to Brain Campbell and Marian Hossa and the RFA blunders that resulted in premature (though surprisingly economical) deals for Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker.
It's not beyond the realm of possiblity that new GM Stan Bowman can't work it out, but this is his first GM job and the environment in the Chicago front office sounds north of a little hostile if Martin Havlat is to be believed.
The Chicago management team better decide right quick who's steering this boat or its going to sink real quick.