DetDannyWilliams
06-07-2015, 10:56 AM
Once this series ends, General Manager Stan Bowman has some serious roster issues to manage. It starts with the identical $10.5 million cap hits that Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane will move to next season, after they signed their eight-year, $84 million extensions last August.
The struggling Canadian dollar plays into the cap figure for 2015-16, which has yet to be officially set. But the word is it’s going to be around $71 million and that’s bad news for teams like the Hawks. Chicago already has 13 players under contract for next year at just over $63 million.
Bowman has said several times late in the season that jettisoning Crawford ($6 million cap hit through 2019-20) isn’t an option he’s looking at, even though backup goaltender Scott Darling played well in the first round against Nashville when Crawford struggled. Still, Bowman has to figure out a big raise for restricted free agent Brandon Saad, whose cap hit of $764,000 is likely to go to the $3-$4 million range.
So given all that, who might go?
Defenseman Brent Seabrook’s $5.8 deal runs out after next season while winger Patrick Sharp ($5.9 million) and winger Bryan Bickell ($4 million) are signed through 2016-17. Defenseman Johnny Oduya ($3.375 million) is an unrestricted free agent after the season who is playing himself into big money the Hawks likely won’t be able to spend.
Sharp, in particular, could be of interest to a team like the Sabres looking for an experienced winger. Sharp, 33, had just 16 goals this year but owns four 30-goal seasons in his NHL career.
http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=10
The struggling Canadian dollar plays into the cap figure for 2015-16, which has yet to be officially set. But the word is it’s going to be around $71 million and that’s bad news for teams like the Hawks. Chicago already has 13 players under contract for next year at just over $63 million.
Bowman has said several times late in the season that jettisoning Crawford ($6 million cap hit through 2019-20) isn’t an option he’s looking at, even though backup goaltender Scott Darling played well in the first round against Nashville when Crawford struggled. Still, Bowman has to figure out a big raise for restricted free agent Brandon Saad, whose cap hit of $764,000 is likely to go to the $3-$4 million range.
So given all that, who might go?
Defenseman Brent Seabrook’s $5.8 deal runs out after next season while winger Patrick Sharp ($5.9 million) and winger Bryan Bickell ($4 million) are signed through 2016-17. Defenseman Johnny Oduya ($3.375 million) is an unrestricted free agent after the season who is playing himself into big money the Hawks likely won’t be able to spend.
Sharp, in particular, could be of interest to a team like the Sabres looking for an experienced winger. Sharp, 33, had just 16 goals this year but owns four 30-goal seasons in his NHL career.
http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=10