There’s a new position becoming very important in the new NHL salary cap era. For lack of a better term we’ll call it a “Capoligist”. With the cap expected to shrink in the coming seasons, there’s a big problem for teams with a plethora of young talent who will be looking to sign their first significant restricted free agent contracts. The Chicago Blackhawks are a team that will get up-close and personal with this dilemma in the near future.
Hawks general manager Dale Tallon already has $42.473 million tied up in 11 skaters and 1 goaltender going into next season, with young stars like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith, to name a few, coming up as restricted free agents next summer. These are players who will be looking for star calibre money, and with over $42 million already allocated to other players next season, it’s safe to say the ‘Hawks will be looking to move out some contracts to make cap space to sign them.
Having just signed Cam Barker and Kris Versteeg to just over $3 million each for next year, look for possible movement for each player as well as Patrick Sharp, who will be earning $4 million next year.
This not to say it’s all doom and gloom in the windy city though. There are certainly worse problems to face than having too much young talent. It will be interesting to follow what the ‘Hawks do at the trade deadline as they try to figure out how to solve this quagmire, and still take a shot at the Cup.
#1 by Mark at July 9th, 2009
They have to be looking to move Brian Campbell and his $7+ million contract. I think they’d like to move Huet and his $5 million, but that would be a tough contract to move, plus they need a goalie to replace him.
#2 by Jeff Gilroy at July 10th, 2009
Any Hawks article should read “GOALTENDER needed in Chicago”. In 5-6 years, I’m afraid Hawks fans will be saying things like “Remember that year we went to the conference finals against Detroit? What was great wasnt it?”.
I dont care how many goals Kane and Hossa score, they need to stop the other team from scoring.
#3 by Jeff at July 22nd, 2009
Guess who needs shoulder surgery?!