Fire sale in Chicago?

[Nev 1,085]

Boy, you guys sure do like talking about the Blackhawks.

I'll admit though, it's interesting hearing you guys try to talk yourself into thinking that the Blackhawks will suck this year.

A point nobody is bringing up - the Hawks are going to absolutely load up their system in the returns they get for these guys. The guys they're going to be trading had very good value right now.

Really what we're looking at next year for the Hawks is a team that is still part of a group of about 6-8 teams that has a chance to win a Cup. The stars are more important than the depth, and that's all the Hawks are losing.... depth. Will they even lose one of their top 10 players this offseason?

Hawks best 10 players, in no specific order

Hossa

Toews

Seabrook

Keith

Hjalmarsson

Campbell

Kane

Sharp

Bolland

Niemi

Most likely, they won't lose any of those guys. Maybe Bolland. So yeah, the Hawks will be losing depth more than anything else. Will this offseason hurt them? Absolutely. But to act like they aren't going to be a Cup contender next season seems pretty silly to me.

What will happen is they'll spend the next couple years as one of 6-8 teams that has a chance to win a cup, then will be in great shape again after that. Their system is going to be loaded, and the money situation will be better.

But hey, if you guys want to say things like "the hits keep on coming", go right ahead. I'm sure the Stanley Cup championship this year was worth sitting through a horrrrrible 100-105 point season next year.

I don't quite think you realise the depth of your problem - you have just 14 players signed for ~$58M. ie you're right at the cap and 8-9 players short of a roster. Add to that the bonuses due to Toews + Kane and suddenly you're ~$4M OVER the cap and you're STILL 8-9 players short of a roster! You need to waive/trade Huet just to get back beneath the cap (and now you're 9-10 players short with no goalie).

Forget about re-signing your RFA's for the moment, if every player you sign from now on is on Minimum Salary you still need to create another ~$5M in cap room to do that. Obviously Campbell is the albatross hanging round your neck right now, but he has an NTC so you can only waive or buy him out. If you waive him, you're paying a guy $7.1M a season for the next 6 years to play in the minors (and I'm sure the NHLPA will have something to say about that), although you might get lucky and someone might be prepared to pick him up on waivers. Or you can buy him out and have a saving of ~$4.8M, but a cap hit of $2.4M for the next 12 (TWELVE) years, and now you're 10-11 players short of a roster. You're almost enough below the cap to fill out your team with min salary players but you have only 3 defencemen and no goalie.

You listed Hjalmarsson and Niemmi in your core 10, but they are both RFAs earning $0.6M + $0.8M respectively and you have no spare money to re-sign them with the raise they deserve. If you want to keep them the only way to find the money is to trade one of Sharp/Bolland/Versteeg/Butmuffin (and now they need to be replaced too). Can you even afford to offer your RFAs offer sheets? What if no-one else offers them a contract? Now you're left with even more players you can't afford. And good luck keeping Seabrook the year after that.

Look, we all knew this was coming from the second Chicago signed Hossa - everyone on here said the same thing "Chicago better win the cup this year cos they're screwed after that". Congrats, you managed it but you're about to find out what Anaheim, Detroit and Pittsburgh found out about winning the cup - the key is good players on Entry Level Contracts which allow you to fill out your roster with decent players.

Anaheim - Perry + Getzlaf on ELCs

Detroit - Zetterberg, Cleary, Franzen, Filpulla, Hudler, Sammuelsson all earning MUCH less than they are now

Pittsburgh - byebye Scuderi, Gill etc, hello worst set of wingers in the NHL.

Chicago - Toews + Kane on ELCs

Right now its hard to say whether you can do a Detroit and remain a contender, or slip down the Anaheim/Tampa Bay top-heavy garbage chute. As Ken Holland said last year "there's only so many minimum salary guys you want on your team".

[Lidstrom for life 20]

Of course he doesn't realize the depth of the problem he said they probably won't lose Campbell....are you freaking kidding me? If Chicago keeps the 9 players on that list besides Bolland like he suggests those 9 players alone will total about 43 million in salary (that is assuming 2.5 million deals for Niemi and Hjalmarson) That would mean that with their cap penalties they would have about 11.5 million with which to sign 10 more players just to get them to the minimum roster, realistically they need to sign at least 11 more. And remember that would mean they lose guys like Bolland, Byfleyn, Brouwer, Ladd, Sopel and replace them with 1 million dollar players. If they don't unload Campbell they are epically screwed.

I can only hope that Stan Bowman is thinking along the same lines as this guy.

[Guest screwdahawks]

Of course he doesn't realize the depth of the problem he said they probably won't lose Campbell....are you freaking kidding me? If Chicago keeps the 9 players on that list besides Bolland like he suggests those 9 players alone will total about 43 million in salary (that is assuming 2.5 million deals for Niemi and Hjalmarson) That would mean that with their cap penalties they would have about 11.5 million with which to sign 10 more players just to get them to the minimum roster, realistically they need to sign at least 11 more. And remember that would mean they lose guys like Bolland, Byfleyn, Brouwer, Ladd, Sopel and replace them with 1 million dollar players. If they don't unload Campbell they are epically screwed.

I can only hope that Stan Bowman is thinking along the same lines as this guy.

I don't see how they could dump Campbell with that s*** contract, he's not a 7M player now, and there is 7 more years of it. Their best move is to trade Hossa for a first rounder and whatever else they can get then waive Huet. Now they have extra 11M to work with. Sucks to sign a guy and dump him but I don't think Hossa cares where he plays now that he has his cup and the lifetime contract. Loyalty doesn't seem important to him and he sure didn't pull his weight in the playoffs or for that matter his season wasn't all that spectacular.

[eva unit zero 271]

Yes, but aren't these one way contracts? So if nobody wants to pick up their inflated salary, Chicago is still paying these guys there salaries and counting against the cap. They'd have to hope and pray someone picks them up.

FYI: You could be paying a player the league maximum to play in the minors and he wouldn't cost a cent against the team's cap. He would cost his full salary if on a one-way deal, but would not cost a cent against the team's cap. Otherwise the Leino deal would have been moot, because Tollefson had a one-way deal for $600k. Wouldn't have saved enough cap space to bring Franzen back unless TKO went to the minors, now would it?

[dragonballgtz 273]

Boy, you guys sure do like talking about the Blackhawks.

I'll admit though, it's interesting hearing you guys try to talk yourself into thinking that the Blackhawks will suck this year.

Since a good number already responded to everything else in your post I'll focus on this part.

Most of us here are hockey fans and love to talk about hockey during the off season no matter who or what its about. This "fire sale" thing is big news in the league as of right now and is pretty much the only thing to talk about if you are not a Blackhawks fan. How the 'Hawks decide to deal with this situation can potential have a mass ripple effect on the rest of the League. Other teams getting stronger, maybe the NHLPA not liking how they see some players getting treated (that's very extreme though), again who knows until after the dust has settled.

This is a very interesting topic for an NHL fan.

EDIT: Also I think its funny you said the bold part. There is another thread on these forums that show people chanting "Detroit sucks" when the 'Hawks came home. Not even cheering for their team but booing for another team.

Edited June 12, 2010 by dragonballgtz

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Since a good number already responded to everything else in your post I'll focus on this part.

Most of us here are hockey fans and love to talk about hockey during the off season no matter who or what its about. This "fire sale" thing is big news in the league as of right now and is pretty much the only thing to talk about if you are not a Blackhawks fan. How the 'Hawks decide to deal with this situation can potential have a mass ripple effect on the rest of the League. Other teams getting stronger, maybe the NHLPA not liking how they see some players getting treated (that's very extreme though), again who knows until after the dust has settled.

This is a very interesting topic for an NHL fan.

Exactly.

The team that won the Cup is completely screwed in terms of the cap. It's interesting to see what kind of wheeling and dealing they'll make to try and preserve the core of the team for next season. It's also interesting because of some of the complexity of the cap. What counts and doesn't, tagging, etc.

There is a pinned thread about this over at hfboards (and it's currently 28 pages long). It's not like we're just some Hawks obsessed Wings fans. Fans around the league are talking about this situation.

Edited June 12, 2010 by haroldsnepsts

[Lidstrom for life 20]

I think its funny that he would comment in a Detroit Red Wings forum and then say its funny that we are talking about the blackhawks...

[Drake_Marcus 890]

By the way-- turns out that the Hawks have to pay $4,000,000 in bonuses as a result of their victory and every penny will be counted towards their cap next season.

Here's the source:

THE GLOBE & MAIL: James Mirtle reports Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were the only Chicago Blackhawks with bonuses on their contracts this season, but their hitting all their entry level bonuses this season plus Toews getting a $1.3 million bonus for winning the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP added up to approximately $4 million, which will be coming off next season's salary cap. Mirtle points out demoting Cristobal Huet and trading either Kris Versteeg or Dustin Byfuglien would free up about $8.6 million, leaving management with about $5.5 million to "pay four or five forwards, two or three defensemen and get (Antti) Niemi under contract".

SPECTOR'S NOTE: It just keeps getting worse for the Blackhawks' cap space for next season. It's been suggested they might move Brian Campbell, but that's a slim possibility at best, and even then it still might not be enough to prevent them moving another roster player to get the necessary cap space.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

By the way-- turns out that the Hawks have to pay $4,000,000 in bonuses as a result of their victory and every penny will be counted towards their cap next season.

Here's the source:

Thanks Dale!

[titanium2 867]

Their cap situation may be like nothing we've ever seen before but at the end of the day they still won the cup. For that reason alone I find it really hard to point and laugh at anything they do. You have a ton of organizations that don't task as much risks, manage their cap by the book and have no cup on their resume.

My thinking is that a good amount of those organizations now think they would've done the same thing. For whatever reason they just didn't think of it or didn't think it was allowed. Load up on names and talent regardless of the cap, deal with some very serious bureaucratic bulls*** and then ice a team that will still be competitive. Sounds good to me.

Ilitch is a guy who isn't afraid to spend as long as the teams win. He might be a little upset that they beat him to it but I bet he would have loved to have done what Chicago did.

Chicago will get through this and it's not going to screw them over as much as we hope it will.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

Their cap situation may be like nothing we've ever seen before but at the end of the day they still won the cup. For that reason alone I find it really hard to point and laugh at anything they do. You have a ton of organizations that don't task as much risks, manage their cap by the book and have no cup on their resume.

My thinking is that a good amount of those organizations now think they would've done the same thing. For whatever reason they just didn't think of it or didn't think it was allowed. Load up on names and talent regardless of the cap, deal with some very serious bureaucratic bulls*** and then ice a team that will still be competitive. Sounds good to me.

Ilitch is a guy who isn't afraid to spend as long as the teams win. He might be a little upset that they beat him to it but I bet he would have loved to have done what Chicago did.

Chicago will get through this and it's not going to screw them over as much as we hope it will.

The signings aren't the problem. It is the amount Tallon paid for a select few players. If that doesn't happen, the Hawks win the cup and don't lose as much as they likely will this offseason.

[jeff48109 474]

Their cap situation may be like nothing we've ever seen before but at the end of the day they still won the cup. For that reason alone I find it really hard to point and laugh at anything they do. You have a ton of organizations that don't task as much risks, manage their cap by the book and have no cup on their resume.

My thinking is that a good amount of those organizations now think they would've done the same thing. For whatever reason they just didn't think of it or didn't think it was allowed. Load up on names and talent regardless of the cap, deal with some very serious bureaucratic bulls*** and then ice a team that will still be competitive. Sounds good to me.

Ilitch is a guy who isn't afraid to spend as long as the teams win. He might be a little upset that they beat him to it but I bet he would have loved to have done what Chicago did.

Chicago will get through this and it's not going to screw them over as much as we hope it will.

i will think that owners who are willing to spend the money will have no hesitation doing what the hawks did.

i'm laughing mainly at the fools in the media who are throwing the 'dynasty' word around so loosely.

[Guest Heaten]

Their cap situation may be like nothing we've ever seen before but at the end of the day they still won the cup. For that reason alone I find it really hard to point and laugh at anything they do. You have a ton of organizations that don't task as much risks, manage their cap by the book and have no cup on their resume.

My thinking is that a good amount of those organizations now think they would've done the same thing. For whatever reason they just didn't think of it or didn't think it was allowed. Load up on names and talent regardless of the cap, deal with some very serious bureaucratic bulls*** and then ice a team that will still be competitive. Sounds good to me.

Ilitch is a guy who isn't afraid to spend as long as the teams win. He might be a little upset that they beat him to it but I bet he would have loved to have done what Chicago did.

Chicago will get through this and it's not going to screw them over as much as we hope it will.

The point is there will be no dynasty in Chicago due to poor management. Yes they won the cup, but had they done it right, they could possibly have been a dynasty team for the next decade or so. As a Red Wings fan, to me, that's more important. Of course they have bragging rights like the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning did.. but it only lasts for one year. In 2 years nobody is really going to remember the Blackhawks because they won't be contenders. While the Detroit Red Wings will be right in there every year and will always have a legit chance to bringing the cup back home where it belongs.

For that reason, I point and laugh.

[chrisdetroit 189]

i will think that owners who are willing to spend the money will have no hesitation doing what the hawks did.

i'm laughing mainly at the fools in the media who are throwing the 'dynasty' word around so loosely.

They do it every year. Last year Pittsburgh won the cup and we heard about that dynasty. They lost in the 2nd round...

[titanium2 867]

In 2 years nobody is really going to remember the Blackhawks because they won't be contenders. While the Detroit Red Wings will be right in there every year and will always have a legit chance to bringing the cup back home where it belongs.

For that reason, I point and laugh.

Hmm. I know we'd all like to think that but I think this past year proves that a playoff spot isn't a given for the Wings as it used to be, not to mention being a contender.

I don't see how the Hawks won't be contenders actually. They will have Keith and Seabrook and Toews, Kane and Hossa. Seems like that's as much of a contender as you can hope for in this league.

[Nhurdi 42]

Does anyone know if the owners of Chicago would even consider paying these guys big money to play in the AHL? Allot of people say waive them to clear space but they still have to be paid and I can't see a owner going, sure 7 million here for the AHL, another 5 mill here for the AHL.

[wingsownnhl43 14]

Ok, so I tried my hand in playing Hawks GM to try and solve their cap woes.. I gave the cap a two million dollar increase.

Trades- Dave Bolland and Brent Sopel

Buyout- Cristobal Huet

I still think they have three very solid lines, a very good top 4 defenseman, and a SC winning goalie. They lose a lot of depth, but I dont think they will be as bad as we all think.

AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES

FORWARDS

Jonathan Toews ($6.300m) / Patrick Kane ($6.300m) / Dustin Byfuglien ($3.000m)

Tomas Kopecky ($1.200m) / Patrick Sharp ($3.900m) / Marian Hossa ($5.275m)

Colin Fraser ($0.750m) / Kris Versteeg ($3.083m) / Troy Brouwer ($1.025m)

* ??? * ($0.500m) / * ???? ($0.500m) / *???? ($0.500m)

* ???? ($0.500m) / * ????($0.500m)

DEFENSEMEN

Brian Campbell ($7.143m) / Duncan Keith ($5.538m)

Brent Seabrook ($3.500m) / * Niklas Hjalmarsson ($0.800m)

* Jordan Hendry ($0.725m) / *???? ($0.500m)

*??? ($0.500m)

GOALTENDERS

* Antti Niemi ($2.000m) / * ???? ($0.500m)

* Huet Buyout ($1.875m)

* Toews bonus ($1.300m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

(these totals are compiled using the bonus cushion)

ROSTER: 23; CAP: $58.8m; PAYROLL: $57.715m; CAP ROOM: $1.085m BONUSES: $0.000m

[newfy 695]

Hmm. I know we'd all like to think that but I think this past year proves that a playoff spot isn't a given for the Wings as it used to be, not to mention being a contender.

I don't see how the Hawks won't be contenders actually. They will have Keith and Seabrook and Toews, Kane and Hossa. Seems like that's as much of a contender as you can hope for in this league.

Hossa is nothing in the playoffs, keeping someone like Andrew Ladd would help them better then keeping Hossa. The ducks have Perry and Getzlaf who are just as good as Kane and Toews. Bobby Ryan is fairly compareable to Hossa since he's a 30 goal scorer and Getzlaf is an absolute beast in the playoffs. The ducks have a great goalie in Hiller, something the Hawks probably won't be able to have any longer and the Ducks have pretty solid defense.

What has that got them since they have nothing outside of their top line? Mediocrity at best.

The hawks are going to end up just like this now, theyre going to lose guys on offer sheets kind of like the ducks did with Penner(important member of top line) and iwll have to trade away some good players like the ducks did(they didn't have too but they did).

The hawks are absolutely f***ed next season and this guy on here talking about how they aren't is f***ed in the head. Welcome back to the days of winning the central Detroit

They have no depth however

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Ok, so I tried my hand in playing Hawks GM to try and solve their cap woes.. I gave the cap a two million dollar increase.

Trades- Dave Bolland and Brent Sopel

Buyout- Cristobal Huet

I still think they have three very solid lines, a very good top 4 defenseman, and a SC winning goalie. They lose a lot of depth, but I dont think they will be as bad as we all think.

AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES

FORWARDS

Jonathan Toews ($6.300m) / Patrick Kane ($6.300m) / Dustin Byfuglien ($3.000m)

Tomas Kopecky ($1.200m) / Patrick Sharp ($3.900m) / Marian Hossa ($5.275m)

Colin Fraser ($0.750m) / Kris Versteeg ($3.083m) / Troy Brouwer ($1.025m)

* ??? * ($0.500m) / * ???? ($0.500m) / *???? ($0.500m)

* ???? ($0.500m) / * ????($0.500m)

DEFENSEMEN

Brian Campbell ($7.143m) / Duncan Keith ($5.538m)

Brent Seabrook ($3.500m) / * Niklas Hjalmarsson ($0.800m)

* Jordan Hendry ($0.725m) / *???? ($0.500m)

*??? ($0.500m)

GOALTENDERS

* Antti Niemi ($2.000m) / * ???? ($0.500m)

* Huet Buyout ($1.875m)

* Toews bonus ($1.300m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

(these totals are compiled using the bonus cushion)

ROSTER: 23; CAP: $58.8m; PAYROLL: $57.715m; CAP ROOM: $1.085m BONUSES: $0.000m

Actually the total bonus owed to their players from the Cup win is $4,000,000.

[wingsownnhl43 14]

Actually the total bonus owed to their players from the Cup win is $4,000,000.

Really? Would you mind telling me who will be awarded bonuses? I would appreciate it.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

So:

--> You're $2,700,000 off on the bonus structure

--> Hjalmarsson will get somewhere in the realm of $2,000,000 so you're $1,200,000 off there

--> The league minimum is for this year is exactly $500,000 now... so that's cutting it pretty tight for all of those scrubs. Even then you're looking at 5 to 8 players on their roster making the league minimum. That is a ton of scrubs to have on one roster and still claim to have significant depth. Note that Chicago's potential rookies have salaries that float near or above $1,000,000.

--> Niemi will command somewhere between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000. Let's be generous and say 3 mil. That's another $1,000,000 off

--> Hendry made $650,000 last season so I think your estimate on his salary is fair.

--> You'll have to leave at least a tiny bit of room for call-ups and stuff due to injuries. Let's say that's $250,000.

This all totals up for $5,150,000 more on the cap.

After taking off the cap room you had left that means you're:

Still $4,065,000 over the cap.

Keep trimming the roster down This is interesting...

[wingsownnhl43 14]

So:

--> You're $2,700,000 off on the bonus structure

--> Hjalmarsson will get somewhere in the realm of $2,000,000 so you're $1,200,000 off there

--> The league minimum is for this year is exactly $500,000 now... so that's cutting it pretty tight for all of those scrubs. Even then you're looking at 5 to 8 players on their roster making the league minimum. That is a ton of scrubs to have on one roster and still claim to have significant depth. Note that Chicago's potential rookies have salaries that float near or above $1,000,000.

--> Niemi will command somewhere between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000. Let's be generous and say 3 mil. That's another $1,000,000 off

--> Hendry made $650,000 last season so I think your estimate on his salary is fair.

--> You'll have to leave at least a tiny bit of room for call-ups and stuff due to injuries. Let's say that's $250,000.

This all totals up for $5,150,000 more on the cap.

After taking off the cap room you had left that means you're:

Still $4,065,000 over the cap.

H

Keep trimming the roster down This is interesting...

What players will be awarded the extra 2.7 in bonuses? Also, I've heard its possible for them to be taken off the hook of Huet's contract if he clears waivers and is sent to the minors... is this true?

Also, I definitely could see some team going after Niemi, Ladd, and Hjamarsson knowing the Hawks really cant match.

Edited June 12, 2010 by wingsownnhl43

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Here's what I got without buying players out or trading players. I used the minimum cost scrubs from their system to fill any vacant roster spots. I re-signed Niemi and Hjalmarsson to contracts in the low end of the estimations most people are making for those two. I felt that they were players Chicago would feel that had to sign.

AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES

FORWARDS

Jonathan Toews ($6.300m) / Patrick Kane ($6.300m) / Marian Hossa ($5.275m)

* Bonuses ($4.000m) / Patrick Sharp ($3.900m) / Dave Bolland ($3.375m)

Kris Versteeg ($3.083m) / Dustin Byfuglien ($3.000m) / Tomas Kopecky ($1.200m)

Troy Brouwer ($1.025m) / * Adam Hobson ($0.503m) / * Bryan Bickell ($0.500m)

* Peter MacArthur ($0.500m)

DEFENSEMEN

Brian Campbell ($7.143m) / Duncan Keith ($5.538m)

Brent Seabrook ($3.500m) / Brent Sopel ($2.333m)

* Niklas Hjalmarsson ($2.000m) / * Jordan Hendry ($0.725m)

* Jassen Cullimore ($0.500m)

GOALTENDERS

Cristobal Huet ($5.625m) / * Antti Niemi ($3.000m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

(these totals are compiled using the bonus cushion)

ROSTER: 22; CAP: $58.8m; PAYROLL: $69.326m; CAP ROOM: $-10.526m BONUSES: $0.000m

Chicago can buy Huet out:

--> Cap hit: $1,875,000 (Savings $3,750,000)

--> Savings minus scrub to fill his spot = $3,250,000

Then they can buy Campbell out:

--> Cap hit: $2,380,958 (Savings $4,761,917)

--> Savings minus scrub to fill his spot = $4,511,917

Cap Position after buying both players out = -$2,764,083

New lines:

AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES

FORWARDS

Jonathan Toews ($6.300m) / Patrick Kane ($6.300m) / Marian Hossa ($5.275m)

Kris Versteeg ($3.083m) / Patrick Sharp ($3.900m) / Dave Bolland ($3.375m)

Troy Brouwer ($1.025m) / Dustin Byfuglien ($3.000m) / Tomas Kopecky ($1.200m)

* Peter MacArthur ($0.500m) / * Adam Hobson ($0.503m) / * Bryan Bickell ($0.500m)

DEFENSEMEN

Brent Seabrook ($3.500m) / Duncan Keith ($5.538m)

* Niklas Hjalmarsson ($2.000m) / Brent Sopel ($2.333m)

* Jordan Hendry ($0.725m) / * Jassen Cullimore ($0.500m)

Scrubs McGee ($0.500m)

GOALTENDERS

* Antti Niemi ($3.000m) / Scrubs McGee ($0.500m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

(these totals are compiled using the bonus cushion)

ROSTER: 21; CAP: $61.6m; PAYROLL: $69.326m; CAP ROOM: $-2.764m BONUSES: $4.000m BUYOUTS: $4.256m

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Note that a trade of Byfuglien or Versteeg won't get them out of cap hell because the player needed to replace them would bring them back over the cap. The only viable choice to dump and replace with a scrub is Sharp. That would leave them about $636,000 below the cap. That's good because I didn't include a 13th forward in that roster above, and as such you'd have to leave at least $500,000 free for him. The new lines would be:

FORWARDS

Jonathan Toews ($6.300m) / Patrick Kane ($6.300m) / Marian Hossa ($5.275m)

Kris Versteeg ($3.083m) / Dustin Byfuglien ($3.000m) / Dave Bolland ($3.375m)

Troy Brouwer ($1.025m) / * Adam Hobson ($0.503m) / Tomas Kopecky ($1.200m)

* Peter MacArthur ($0.500m) / Scrubs McGee ($0.500m) / * Bryan Bickell ($0.500m)

DEFENSEMEN

Brent Seabrook ($3.500m) / Duncan Keith ($5.538m)

* Niklas Hjalmarsson ($2.000m) / Brent Sopel ($2.333m)

* Jordan Hendry ($0.725m) / * Jassen Cullimore ($0.500m)

Scrubs McGee ($0.500m)

GOALTENDERS

* Antti Niemi ($3.000m) / Scrubs McGee ($0.500m)

Bye bye depth.

What players will be awarded the extra 2.7 in bonuses? Also, I've heard its possible for them to be taken off the hook of Huet's contract if he clears waivers and is sent to the minors... is this true?

Also, I definitely could see some team going after Niemi, Ladd, and Hjamarsson knowing the Hawks really cant match.

They can't take those bonuses off the cap because they were due for the 2009-2010 season but Chicago couldn't put them on the cap that season and they carried over. I'm not sure who exactly is getting the bonuses-- I'm going by an article in the Globe and Mail. I know Toews gets $1,300,000 of the bonuses and I assume Kane would have a Cup bonus in his contract.

[cjm502 165]

Poor Hawks. They are off way worse than I originally thought.