brinoch

A couple of thoughts... I was opposed to getting Turco at the deadline, but I think letting Niemi go and signing him to a one-year deal is a really good move. It provides significant cap relief and probably an upgrade, given his numbers with a poor defensive club -- which has been pointed out numerous times by intelligent observers. I don't know who among the young players will make the team. Neither does Bowman or Q-stache just yet. And that's a glorious thing. They can choose the best players out of camp, rather than pick out who must be on the team based on salary. They also have the flexibility to carry 22 players at times and cover for injuries without going over the cap. This means that if Beach demonstrates he's ready, he can make the team. Likewise with Leddy or Vishnevskiy or Kruger or Lalonde or Makarov or whoever. I've been surprised before, but from what I've read I don't think Leddy is ready for the NHL. They could put him on the third pairing and learn on the ice, but Bowman has said that he's likely to start in Rockford. He has Junior eligibility left, so he could go to the OHL this season, too. Never having actually seen him play, I'm not sure what's the best course. I trust the Hawks to develop him properly, though (and isn't it nice to say that!). I think the Hawks will have a lot more flexibility next season with the $4.1M penalty and whatever happens with the cap. They do have questions to answer at goalie, along with what to do with Brouwer and Seabrook. I'm not sure what happens with Brouwer. He's a very solid player and I think he could explode this year. He may be a cap casualty, but I hope they can find a way to keep him. As for Seabrook, there's no way the Hawks will pay Seabs more than Keith, so he won't make more than another $2M. I could see paying Seabs around $5M, which would be $1.5M more. I'd do that. The price at goalie will go up, most likely, but perhaps not if Crawford shows he can hold the fort (or if Turco wants to come back for another season inexpensively). There are several guys who will be RFA's, but they are completely unknown quantities at this point. And there's always the question of what will happen with the CBA.

if either bolland or sharp are gone, i will be absolutely shocked. if dowell makes the team it will be as the 4th line center, which wouldn't be bad, he's even cheaper than taffe if that's possible. Sorry if I wasn't clear -- I meant whether or not Sharp is a center or a wing. Meaning, whether Sharp centers the second line with Bolland on the third, or if Bolland is on the second. There's no way that Sharp or Bolland are going anywhere.

I'd just like to strut a bit and note that I've been calling this move for a while. Now I feel all high and mighty... or something... I think. Maybe. I think that Jake Dowell will almost certainly make the roster. He'll be a 3rd/4th center depending on what happens with Bolland and Sharp. Taffe is no guarantee to make the roster.

It was mildly disappointing. I thought there would be more highlights of the various series, important goals, and such. Like Game 5 against Nashville -- how about the whole play to win in OT? The extra were pretty nice though.

Got my Amazon shipping notification for the Blu-Ray -- I should have it tomorrow.

Alas, no. The cap ceiling is a hard cap. You can't even violate it and pay a luxury tax (I think the Hawks would have done that to keep the team together). Think about that 180 turn from Bill Wirtz to Rocky Wirtz.

This roster is under the cap. At this point, everything really depends on the cost for Niemi or a free agent stopgap like Turco. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Hawks sign Niemi for two years (or more) with cheap early years to reduce the cap hit. I could also see them doing a one-year $1.75M-$2.25M contract. I still think one of Reasoner or Kopecky has to go. Cullimore is a corpse. If Sopel made you worried and Boynton scared you, then Cullimore will stop your heart virtually immediately. From what I've heard, they are trying to sign Boynton and Hendry to give Vishnievsky another year to season. So this could still go down a bit (Boynton presumably would be cheaper than Vishnievskiy). From all accounts, Vish sounds like he is going to be pretty good, and it might be his time, but money is tight and he's still very young. I could see more seasoning. I also wonder if there might not be a chance to resign Madden on the cheap to free up Sharp to move back to wing. He hasn't had any movement that I know of, and he's getting up there in years. I could see him coming back since the market isn't great for him. If he doesn't, though, I think you'll see Toews, Sharp, Bolland, and Dowell as the centers. Kruger is a possibility, too, which would be at the expense of a guy like Makarov. That would plus up the roster below by less than $200k and move Sharp back to wing. This allows the Hawks to interchange between the two throughout the season if need be. Beach is too expensive (and frankly he needs to grow up). They have more flexibility on how the younger guys fit in than we realize. Jonathan Toews — $6,300,000 Patrick Kane — $6,300,000 Marian Hossa — $5,275,000 Patrick Sharp — $3,900,000 Dave Bolland — $3,375,000 Tomas Kopecky — $1,200,000 Troy Brouwer — $1,025,000 Viktor Stalberg ($65,000) $850,000 * Bryan Bickell — $600,000 * Jack Skille — $600,000 Igor Makarov — $552,500 Jake Dowell — $525,000 DEFENSEMEN Brian Campbell — $7,142,875 Duncan Keith — $5,538,462 Brent Seabrook — $3,500,000 Niklas Hjalmarsson — $3,500,000 Ivan Vishnevskiy — $821,667 * Jordan Hendry — $625,000 John Scott — $512,500 GOALTENDERS * Antti Niemi — $2,000,000 Corey Crawford — $800,000 BUYOUTS NONE LOST VIA REENTRY WAIVERS NONE CARRY-OVER BONUS PENALTY $4,157,753 CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER SIZE 21 SALARY CAP $59,400,000 PAYROLL $59,100,756 BONUSES $65,000 CAP SPACE $364,244

http://blogs.suntimes.com/blackhawks/2010/07/skille_hawks_agree_to_one-year.html Hawks sign Skille for $600,000. The article also mentions that the Hawks are close with Bickell. Very good sign.

That's not my point. I agree it's not ideal. My point is, what's a better idea? Golden goal/sudden death is not. It's been tried, there's a reason they changed. To support what wolf is saying, PK's aren't ideal. No one thinks they are. But if you watch a lot of soccer, as many of us do, you'll see that game in and game out, the bulk of the offensive players are really tired between 75 and 85 minutes into a game. Coaches start using their subs, in general, around 60 minutes into the game -- replacing their tired offensive players. The team's shape and cohesion really breaks down, and in a tie situation, teams really stop taking risks because they don't have the energy to break down a defense and effectively recover if they lose the ball. This is even more so during a tournament like the World Cup. Games are often closer together than during the regular season, and there are no "off" games where you can rest the regulars. So what are the options? 1. Golden goal. Didn't work well at all, and doesn't solve the problem. 2. 30 minutes of AET, then PK's. Current. 3. During the FA cup in England, they do replays of games. Not an option in a short tournament. 4. Extra subs. A decent suggestion. 5. Fewer players on the field. No way. 6. AET in 15 minute chunks until a goal is scored. Probably the "purest" soccer, but I just don't think it's realistic given the level of exhaustion players will face and the inevitable card accumulation. 7. How about this: add an extra 45' "half" with an extra sub. Then PK's. I don't know. Probably not.

With the Makarov signing, things are becoming clear. I think the Hawks can make things work with only a few changes... 1. Trade one of Marty Reasoner or Tomas Kopecky (or bury them in the minors) 2. Sign a goalie -- Niemi or Turco, for $2M or less 3. Sign Hendry, Bickell and Skille (or trade Skille) for as little as you can get ($650,000 for Hendry, $600,000 for Bickell and $750,000 for Skille). 4. If you can't make Skille work, then one of Kruger or Klinkhammer will work. Jonathan Toews — $6,300,000 Patrick Kane — $6,300,000 Marian Hossa — $5,275,000 Patrick Sharp — $3,900,000 Dave Bolland — $3,375,000 Tomas Kopecky — $1,200,000 Troy Brouwer — $1,025,000 Viktor Stalberg ($65,000) $850,000 * Jack Skille — $750,000 * Bryan Bickell — $600,000 Igor Makarov — $552,500 Jake Dowell — $525,000 DEFENSEMEN Brian Campbell — $7,142,875 Duncan Keith — $5,538,462 Brent Seabrook — $3,500,000 Niklas Hjalmarsson — $3,500,000 Ivan Vishnevskiy — $821,667 * Jordan Hendry — $650,000 John Scott — $512,500 GOALTENDERS * Antti Niemi — $2,000,000 Corey Crawford — $800,000 BUYOUTS NONE LOST VIA REENTRY WAIVERS NONE CARRY-OVER BONUS PENALTY $4,157,753 CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER SIZE 21 SALARY CAP $59,400,000 PAYROLL $59,275,756 BONUSES $65,000 CAP SPACE $189,244

Low risk signing? Isn't that just a Hawks draft pick? He's the #8 prospect in the Blackhawks' system, according to Hockey's future. He was drafted in 2006 and was their 2nd round pick. It's a good move and fills a 3rd/4th line spot cheaply.

I fully believe and expect the Hawks to contend for the Central Division title.

campbell's not just dead weight like huet, he's a very good blue-liner. someone trying to make the floor should have taken him by now. i thought the islanders might take him. they need big contracts. if you tacked on a prospect, they would probably go for it later in summer if they still haven't signed anyone. The problem is that Campbell has a limited no movement clause -- I think it's pretty unlikely that he'd accept the Islanders as one of his 8 teams (or waive his no trade).

He was great this year. Last year, during the regular season, he wasn't great -- just decent. But as the season progressed, he got stronger and stronger and was *really* very impressive during the playoffs. This year, he was simply excellent all season long and did an excellent job in the playoffs (excepting that one game which I've forgotten all about).

If it's like other sports, the Blackhawks matched so they have to pay him whatever the Sharks offered him and he is still a Blackhawk. He's a Blackhawk. Especially when Seabrook gets his, that's way too much money to have tied up in your top four defensemen. I don't care how good they are. So far this offseason, the most disappointing thing to me is that Campbell is still on the team. Only because of Campbell, though. Seabrook will end up with a long-term deal likes Keith's -- figure $4.5M-$5.3M cap hit per year. I'm fine with paying top 4 defensemen $5M each, so long as the 3-4 would be 1-2's on another team. What would be better is to have 3 elite $5M caliber Keith: $5.5M Seabrook: $5.3M Hjalmarsson: $3.5M Campbell: $7.1M $21.4M -- and Campbell is a third of that. I also think that Hjammer's contract is tradeable. I've wondered about the possibility of a Kaberle for Campbell swap or something similar. I don't know if you can do this under CBA, but I also wonder if the Hawks could sign Campbell to an extension that reduces the cap hit by adding cheap years (that's the biggest problem with the contract) a la Hossa. Still and all, the philosophy of building from the back out is a very good one. I'd rather pay defensemen big bucks than goalies.

If it's like other sports, the Blackhawks matched so they have to pay him whatever the Sharks offered him and he is still a Blackhawk. He's a Blackhawk.

Agreed. Saw one game live in Adelaide when I was in Australia forever ago. Really, really fun.

Maybe $2 million if we squeeze things even tighter. Could you give him a backloaded deal so we take less of a hit this year? The cap hit is the average of the various years of the deal -- which is how the Hawks can afford to pay Hossa and Keith more $7M this year and next year. So if the Hawks pay Niemi $1M for 2010-2011 and $3M for 2011-2012, the cap hit for both years would be $2M.

Huet is being waived no matter what. He'll play in Rockford or he'll play in Europe. So if we don't re-sign Niemi, goal is gonna be a huge question mark. The Detroit model of team-building is secure your core team, develop a strong talent pipeline and never, ever overpay for goaltending. The Hawks, with the Bowmans helping run the show, are most assuredly devotees of this model. The analogy to middle relievers is very apt, actually. The Hawks are a very strong team on the blueline -- perhaps top 3, definitely top 5, and they play a puck control game (see their struggles when Campbell was injured). They gave up the fewest shots against in the NHL last season. The team is built to protect the goaltender from facing barrages of shots, no matter who it is. Match the offer sheet for Hjalmarsson and see what Niemi gets in arbitration. Then make a decision. Hjalmarrson is significantly more important than Niemi -- and I'm a big Niemi fan.

I hope not. I really think that'd be a big mistake. Think of goalies as the middle relievers of hockey. There's a few elite ones and a whole bunch of guys who you never know about. I always expected $3M for Hjalmarsson, so $3.5M for 4 years isn't out of line. I think the Hawks will match it. Oh, and they'll look for an opportunity to screw over the Sharks down the road.

He tried to kick the ball so he's certainly involved in the play. He was more involved than the Paraguay guy who went up for the header against Spain and was rightly called offside. I don't think that was clearly offside either. His leg was past the last defender but the rest of his body was even when the ball was kicked. The ref could have called offside but I don't think Uruguay got screwed. It's clearly offsides in the replays. The offside rule was fairly recently updated by FIFA. If any part of the body that can play the ball (head, legs, chest) is offsides, then you are offsides. They used to basically use the trunk of the body, but they had to make it more difficult and complicated. Since the leg was off, he's off. The only question would be when the ball was played.

I'm rooting for Holland all the way. I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing Spain win it... but I'd much rather see the Dutch get their win.

Glad to see the Netherlands win! (About half of my team here in DC are Dutch immigrants.)

I'm pretty sure that Beach is not making the team. They have been saying that they will not rush players out of the AHL -- so keep the unready rookies off the list. Combined with Beach's hit, I think you'll see someone else. I think Skille is someone who they will trade if they can. The Hawks also want to resign Hendry for a small amount, which is why they didn't offer him a QO. Dowell and Reasoner seem to be redundant, so go with one of them. I'm not sure who fills the slots, of course.

It could be a trade of someone like Hester and a late round pick, too. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that, but it's probably better than two picks.