Blackhawks playoffs 2016: The games finally mean something

[Brian707]

Sucks to lose, sucks more knowing that there appears to be an easy path to the SCF this year and the winner of that game last night would probably be representing the West. Dallas is missing their top line center, their D and goaltending is crap, I hate to say it but the Blues should win fairly easily next round. Whomever the Blues meet in the WCF does not scare me one bit, San Jose? No, Anaheim still has to win a game 7 vs Nashville.

 

As for the Hawks, a long summer of rest will do them wonders, the roster will take a big hit but this core will win another Cup or two by the time Kane/Toews reach their mid 30's

[UMFan83]

Sucks to lose, sucks more knowing that there appears to be an easy path to the SCF this year and the winner of that game last night would probably be representing the West. Dallas is missing their top line center, their D and goaltending is crap, I hate to say it but the Blues should win fairly easily next round. Whomever the Blues meet in the WCF does not scare me one bit, San Jose? No, Anaheim still has to win a game 7 vs Nashville.

 

As for the Hawks, a long summer of rest will do them wonders, the roster will take a big hit but this core will win another Cup or two by the time Kane/Toews reach their mid 30's

 

If it was anyone but the Blues (or Wings), my reaction to the loss would be a shoulder shrug. Because its the Blues it stings a little bit, and I do feel like the short term window is closed even if the long term window is still open. But overall, it's impossible to get too upset.

[Tim]

Sucks to lose, sucks more knowing that there appears to be an easy path to the SCF this year and the winner of that game last night would probably be representing the West. Dallas is missing their top line center, their D and goaltending is crap, I hate to say it but the Blues should win fairly easily next round. Whomever the Blues meet in the WCF does not scare me one bit, San Jose? No, Anaheim still has to win a game 7 vs Nashville.

 

As for the Hawks, a long summer of rest will do them wonders, the roster will take a big hit but this core will win another Cup or two by the time Kane/Toews reach their mid 30's

 

If it was anyone but the Blues (or Wings), my reaction to the loss would be a shoulder shrug. Because its the Blues it stings a little bit, and I do feel like the short term window is closed even if the long term window is still open. But overall, it's impossible to get too upset.

Let's see what the cap does for certain before getting to be too gloomy.

[UMFan83]

Sucks to lose, sucks more knowing that there appears to be an easy path to the SCF this year and the winner of that game last night would probably be representing the West. Dallas is missing their top line center, their D and goaltending is crap, I hate to say it but the Blues should win fairly easily next round. Whomever the Blues meet in the WCF does not scare me one bit, San Jose? No, Anaheim still has to win a game 7 vs Nashville.

 

As for the Hawks, a long summer of rest will do them wonders, the roster will take a big hit but this core will win another Cup or two by the time Kane/Toews reach their mid 30's

 

If it was anyone but the Blues (or Wings), my reaction to the loss would be a shoulder shrug. Because its the Blues it stings a little bit, and I do feel like the short term window is closed even if the long term window is still open. But overall, it's impossible to get too upset.

Let's see what the cap does for certain before getting to be too gloomy.

 

What do we have in the pipeline?

 

I highly doubt the cap with be at a point where we dont have to get rid of Ladd, Q's Doghouse guys from Montreal, and Shaw.

 

Somehow we have to get some defensive depth and then replace those 4 guys, just to maybe improve slightly.

 

Like I said last night I still think having 2 more months of rest is the biggest offseason move we can have.

[Brian707]

We will see a couple guys from Europe get a chance, that is why it is overblown that the guys they lost at the trade deadline were somehow hurting the future. I think next year is Hossa's last year, his real salary goes from 4.5 million to 1 millon after that. Not sure if his 5.5 million cap hit goes away once he retires though??

[minnesotacubsfan]

The Montreal Twins will be easy enough to replace, Ladd would be the bigger loss.

[jersey cubs fan]

We will see a couple guys from Europe get a chance, that is why it is overblown that the guys they lost at the trade deadline were somehow hurting the future. I think next year is Hossa's last year, his real salary goes from 4.5 million to 1 millon after that. Not sure if his 5.5 million cap hit goes away once he retires though??

the league's reaction to hossa styled contracts was to install some sort of penalty for guys that do retire, so it doesn't help at all if he retires early.

[WrigleyField 22]

We will see a couple guys from Europe get a chance, that is why it is overblown that the guys they lost at the trade deadline were somehow hurting the future. I think next year is Hossa's last year, his real salary goes from 4.5 million to 1 millon after that. Not sure if his 5.5 million cap hit goes away once he retires though??

the league's reaction to hossa styled contracts was to install some sort of penalty for guys that do retire, so it doesn't help at all if he retires early.

I thought that didn't effect deals signed before that rule was in place.

[Brian707]

We will see a couple guys from Europe get a chance, that is why it is overblown that the guys they lost at the trade deadline were somehow hurting the future. I think next year is Hossa's last year, his real salary goes from 4.5 million to 1 millon after that. Not sure if his 5.5 million cap hit goes away once he retires though??

the league's reaction to hossa styled contracts was to install some sort of penalty for guys that do retire, so it doesn't help at all if he retires early.

 

 

That's what I figured

[jersey cubs fan]

We will see a couple guys from Europe get a chance, that is why it is overblown that the guys they lost at the trade deadline were somehow hurting the future. I think next year is Hossa's last year, his real salary goes from 4.5 million to 1 millon after that. Not sure if his 5.5 million cap hit goes away once he retires though??

the league's reaction to hossa styled contracts was to install some sort of penalty for guys that do retire, so it doesn't help at all if he retires early.

I thought that didn't effect deals signed before that rule was in place.

they made it essentially impossible to enter into a contract like that going forward and used this rule to specifically punish the 6 or 7 contracts that were already signed with cap circumvention in mind.

[UMFan83]

the league's reaction to hossa styled contracts was to install some sort of penalty for guys that do retire, so it doesn't help at all if he retires early.

I thought that didn't effect deals signed before that rule was in place.

they made it essentially impossible to enter into a contract like that going forward and used this rule to specifically punish the 6 or 7 contracts that were already signed with cap circumvention in mind.

 

http://www.secondcityhockey.com/2016/3/9/11185632/marian-hossa-nhl-salary-cap-recapture-penalty-blackhawks-retirement-ltir

 

This has a good look at the penalty the Hawks would get if he retired early.

 

If he doesn't retire, he has a cap hit of 5.275m until 2020-2021. If he retires after next year or any of the remaining years of his contract, the Hawks will have a 4.275m cap hit each year for the remainder of the contract he signed. So basically as long as Hossa is worth $1m a year, it is worth having him.

 

My opinion is that even though he is no longer a dynamic scoring forward, he would still contribute in others ways enough for at least the next 2-3 years.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Hossa could probably play at that level until he retires or is hirt

[Banedon]

Ha...some guy in STL discovered hockey last night...

 

http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/26/black-guy-discovers-playoff-hockey-hilariously-live-tweets-his-experience/

[minnesotacubsfan]

Empty net? The goalie just left??

[minnesotacubsfan]

Lol, I suppose some of hockeys plays would be odd to those watching it for the first time

[Banedon]

[tweet]

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[17 Seconds]

I thought that didn't effect deals signed before that rule was in place.

they made it essentially impossible to enter into a contract like that going forward and used this rule to specifically punish the 6 or 7 contracts that were already signed with cap circumvention in mind.

 

http://www.secondcityhockey.com/2016/3/9/11185632/marian-hossa-nhl-salary-cap-recapture-penalty-blackhawks-retirement-ltir

 

This has a good look at the penalty the Hawks would get if he retired early.

 

If he doesn't retire, he has a cap hit of 5.275m until 2020-2021. If he retires after next year or any of the remaining years of his contract, the Hawks will have a 4.275m cap hit each year for the remainder of the contract he signed. So basically as long as Hossa is worth $1m a year, it is worth having him.

 

My opinion is that even though he is no longer a dynamic scoring forward, he would still contribute in others ways enough for at least the next 2-3 years.

 

i really hope he plays as long as possible, just because he's been my favorite hawk. no matter what happens with the recapture penalty, the acquisition of hossa was a masterstroke.

[NewUserName]

they made it essentially impossible to enter into a contract like that going forward and used this rule to specifically punish the 6 or 7 contracts that were already signed with cap circumvention in mind.

 

http://www.secondcityhockey.com/2016/3/9/11185632/marian-hossa-nhl-salary-cap-recapture-penalty-blackhawks-retirement-ltir

 

This has a good look at the penalty the Hawks would get if he retired early.

 

If he doesn't retire, he has a cap hit of 5.275m until 2020-2021. If he retires after next year or any of the remaining years of his contract, the Hawks will have a 4.275m cap hit each year for the remainder of the contract he signed. So basically as long as Hossa is worth $1m a year, it is worth having him.

 

My opinion is that even though he is no longer a dynamic scoring forward, he would still contribute in others ways enough for at least the next 2-3 years.

 

i really hope he plays as long as possible, just because he's been my favorite hawk. no matter what happens with the recapture penalty, the acquisition of hossa was a masterstroke.

I think Hossa has been a very underrated player most of his career. He was a flat out stud for Ottawa and Atlanta, but the teams were terrible. In his brief time with the Pens and the Wings and now with the Hawks, he has been a very good two way forward. Kills penalties, strong with the puck, tough along the boards, still has enough skill to be a good top six scorer. If he retired it would be a huge loss to the Hawks. Way more than any other player they have lost since the start of their run.

 

Is there actual talk of him retiring or is this just random thoughts people are having?

[biittner77]

Hossa has never even hinted at the possibility of retiring. Hossa is still a productive player though it doesn't show as much on the score sheet as it does in actual games.

 

The out for the Hawks- if it comes to that- is if Hossa were to get injured and went on long term IR. That's what the Flyers did with Chris Pronger who had a similar contract. I'm not sure about the consequences of Hossa going to play in Europe. I doubt he'd do that but I've heard what the ramifications would be.

 

As for other moves:

It's hard to see a scenario where Ladd is back unless there's no interest in him and he's willing to sign for $2 million/ 1 year deal. This was a guy that wanted $7 mil from The Jets.

 

Shaw is gone. The question is where and for what? He's still a fairly inexpensive player so the market should be better than the one for Sharp last year.

 

I think they'll re sign Panik. Roszy will retire. Fleischman and Weisse are gone unless they sign for cheap.

 

As for the pipeline, The most interesting guy is Tyler Motte though it's hard to say if he'll be ready next year. He'll certainly get a long look in camp. From the defensive side of things Pokka gets his chance. We'll see if any of the Swedes that they've signed work out. Hartman or McNeil replaces Shaw.

 

Then there's Tuevo. Do the Hawks see him as a 3rd scoring line center or a first line RW? Would the Hawks dare assemble the "Citizen Kane" line with Panarin- Tuevo- Kane and put Anisimov between Hossa and (?) to create a more traditional checking line? Or would they rather go with something like this:

 

Panik (among current players) Toews Tuevo

Panarin Anisimov Kane

Desjardins Kruger Hossa

cast of thousands including Rasmussen, Hartman, Motte, Hinostroza, Kero, McNeil, Ross, plus any cheap FAs they might bring in