I'll edit this with a long form article in it's place about the upcoming cap decisions etc.

In case anyone's curious, 88's contact does not include any sort of Conn Smythe bonus. All Entry Level deals have one, which is what 19's payout was. 88's new deal does not have one. Helpful.

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Team Cutler.

Jamie Kompon fired.

Next.......

The salary cap goes down next year & the Hawks once again have a cap issue, although not as severe as the shit sandwich that Dale left them with in 2010.

Unrestricted free agents are:
Rozsival
Emery
Stalberg
Mayers
Bickell.

I believe that all 5 UFA's will be gone. Bickell was good for a few weeks, but he will be the next Hawk to leave town that we will never hear about again.

Also at risk is Seabrook, Bolland, & Carcillo.

And I wouldnt be surprised if Hossa is dealt. At some point the Hawks will need to get his contract off the payroll & I'm not sure that he has a full season of play left in him.

Here is a list of the Hawks roster & payroll:
http://www.sportscity.com/nhl/salaries/chicago-blackhawks-salaries/

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Love playing with CapGeek.

CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Bryan Bickell ($3.750m) / Jonathan Toews ($6.300m) / Patrick Kane ($6.300m)
Patrick Sharp ($5.900m) / Brandon Pirri ($0.870m) / Marian Hossa ($5.275m)
Brandon Saad ($0.894m) / Andrew Shaw ($0.578m) / Ben Smith ($0.563m)
Jeremy Morin ($0.887m) / Marcus Kruger ($1.250m) / Michael Frolik ($2.333m)
Daniel Carcillo ($0.825m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Brent Seabrook ($5.800m) / Duncan Keith ($5.538m)
Niklas Hjalmarsson ($3.500m) / Johnny Oduya ($3.383m)
Nick Leddy ($2.245m) / Michal Rozsival ($2.000m)
Sheldon Brookbank ($1.250m) /
GOALTENDERS
Corey Crawford ($2.667m)
Antti Raanta ($1.400m)
OTHER
Buyout: Steve Montador ($0.000m)
Buyout: Rostislav Olesz ($0.292m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled with the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $63,799,295; BONUSES: $852,500
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $1,353,205


Assuming Stan and rumors from Bickell about making a deal work. I'm not sure I would personally give Bickell 3.75, but then again can't teach size. Would really need to think about that.

This is assuming Bolland is shipped, Leddy accepts a bridge 1 year deal until the cap goes up in 2014-15 season.

You may be right about Hossa SH, although I think the Hawks keep him for one more season and then try to move him to free up space for 88 and 19.

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Team Cutler.

Next time through, going to replace Rozy with a cheaper option and do some UFA scouring to see who Stan might look at bringing in.

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Team Cutler.

There are no performance bonuses allowed on contracts without entry-level or 35+ provisions.

I feel like I've done this rundown already but ah what the hell...

Rozsival: 75% sure he's gone. You can't trust him to hold up over an 82-game season at his age and mileage. He could be back at close to the minimum as a part-timer, but it isn't likely. They'll find another #6 defenseman in free agency.

Mayers: probably retiring.

Handzus: probably retiring.

Emery: has already been replaced by Antti Rantaa (or Raanta? Damn Finnish double-vowels) and/or Henrik Karlsson. So long and thanks for all the fish, though.

Stalberg: European? Former Blackhawk? Tantalizing project? Bumslayer? Doesn't seem to fit well on any certain line? He couldn't be more perfect for Winnipeg.

Bickell: They'll come up big and re-sign him. We need a power forward, and Hayes doesn't appear to be it. He won't live up to what he did in the playoffs, but they need him for another three years.

Bolland: value is too low to meaningfully trade

Seabrook: value is too low to meaningfully trade

Frolik: value will never be higher and with a $64MM salary cap, you can't spend $2.33MM on a fourth-liner/PK specialist. It's nice when you can in a year like this one, but now is the time to flip him for something. I'd look to Dallas and the Isles as two teams with cap space and roster spots to fill.

Carcillo: waive him and see if someone takes him. If not, off to Rockford. He's basically just a sideshow at this point, with his feisty pestering replaced by Shaw and his dumbfuck penalties replaced by Bollig (and also Shaw).

Leddy and Kruger will be back.

I'll take my chances on cap recapture being repealed or circumvented before I jettison Hossa with four or five more good years left in him.

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NSD, you're overpaying Leddy. PK Subban was only able to finagle a 2-year 5.75M deal as a RFA. He was a much better player as RFA and now Montreal screwed themselves by insisting on low term and dollars.

The Hawks could be firm with Leddy as he has great potential but reality is he's still a 3rd pair d-man. Also the market is flooded with RFA defensemen: Shattenkirk, Pietrangelo, Bogosian, Alzner, and McDonagh to name a few.

The Kruger figure is about where I'd think too. Also right on with the Bickell thoughts. No way to do I feel comfortable going over 3.5-3.75 with a guy like Bickell. His success is more of a function of Kane and Toews. Hopefully, Roszival accepts a similar contract as he was nails all playoffs but he probably will able to sucker a team for more money and term. There will be bargains with old veterans and compliance buyouts.

Also, doesn't matter when calc-ing the salary cap but I'd flip Morin and Smith in your line-up. Smith will be an animal on the 4th line and Morin has sniping skills.

Hahaha St. Louis gon get fucked so hard

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Draft on Sunday. Blackhawks picks:
30 (1st)
121 (4th)
151 (5th)
181 (6th)
211 (7th)

I guess I forgot to account for the fact that the pick that went to San Jose for Handzus had already belonged to San Jose in the first place, having been acquired last year when the Hawks and Sharks swapped 2012 4ths. So that's a little better, but that's still a long way to go without picks. Let's hope there's another Andrew Shaw out there.

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They postponed the Berglund decision a year by resigning him for 3.75M which is fair. Chris Stewart is a RFA too. He's a guy the Blues should squeeze since he's such an inconsistent spaz.


Trade out of the 1st. Supposedly this a pretty deep draft.

Yeah, I'd trade down for a high-mid 2nd and whatever else would come along with that. Take a chance on a stay-at-home defenseman somewhere in this draft; we have enough forwards in the system already.

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You're possibly right. I was using the Slava Voynov deal (his pay next year) as a rough measuring stick coupled with Stan's obvious love for the kid. I can't see him going for under 2 per though and likely a short deal hoping to get paid once he develops a bit more and the cap increases.

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Team Cutler.

Eeeeehhh, not a bad deal for either side. Dang.

Im not the cap guy that you guys are but I'd like to see then re-sign Bickell ( though iIthink he'll get more than the 3 /3.5 per year that you guys think he will. Someone will overpay for him) Keep Leddy. Would actually like to see Handzus play another year. Dump Bolland ( hurt every year and not very good when healthy) , explore a trade for Seabrook though I understand he's really the only physical D Man they have and unless you can get someone as good it doesnt make much sense. Other than that, I got nothing,

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Seabrook is a leader on the team. Whether we like it or not, he's considered part of the core of this group, so he's probably not going anywhere. I'm going assume that either Bolland or Frolik will be shopped and if I got to choose it would be Bolland. We have center depth in the pipeline so he's the most expendable. Frolik is a guy you win championships with and he only has 1 more year left on his contract. If we could hold on to him for one more season we could try to sign him for cheap afterwards.

Trade Bolland, buy out Montador and Olesz, sign Kruger and Leddy for as cheap as you can and then hope Bickell takes a discount to win more championships here. As for a 3rd pair dman. I'd be willing to sign Roszival for league minimum but if he wants anything more you let him walk.

Just get Bickell to do some ads to make up for the money he will lose out on by signing for a discount. Make him the face of CJ Wilson Ford.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Anyone that complains or says anything negative about Corey Crawford should immediately be beaten with a bat.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Seabrook like Bolland was absolutely awful for stretches during the regular season & in the playoffs, yet they both won 2 playoff games for us. I just didn't like most of what I saw from Seabs this season...careless with the puck in our end, & he tripped on the blue line way too many times. Leaders are replaced by new leaders. This team has plenty of leadership with Toews & Keith. I think Seabrook is 50/50 to be with the Hawks next year.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

I'm curious how to handle Bolland. Shaw's your obvious 3rd line center and Kruger's become a great fit on the 4th line (who could potentially be that 2nd liner of the future), but Bolland's had some issues working the 2nd line as well as health problems.

That being said, the man's a fucking hero.

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Purely just for fun. I think Bickell will want more than 3.5. The likelihood of this is 0.00000001% That stop 6 would steal souls.

FORWARDS
Bryan Bickell ($3.500m) / Jonathan Toews ($6.300m) / Patrick Kane ($6.300m)
Patrick Sharp ($5.900m) / Vincent Lecavalier ($3.750m) / Marian Hossa ($5.275m)
Brandon Saad ($0.894m) / Andrew Shaw ($0.578m) / Jeremy Morin ($0.887m)
Daniel Carcillo ($0.825m) / Marcus Kruger ($1.250m) / Ben Smith ($0.563m)
Brandon Bollig ($0.575m)
DEFENSEMEN
Brent Seabrook ($5.800m) / Duncan Keith ($5.538m)
Niklas Hjalmarsson ($3.500m) / Johnny Oduya ($3.383m)
Michal Rozsival ($2.000m) / Nick Leddy ($2.000m)
Sheldon Brookbank ($1.250m)
GOALTENDERS
Corey Crawford ($2.667m)
Antti Raanta ($1.400m)
OTHER
Buyout: Steve Montador ($0.000m)
Buyout: Rostislav Olesz ($0.000m)

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Team Cutler.

Daniel Carcillo ($0.825m)

Price tag is low I guess, but not sure I want to see him again. Why does he remain on the team? I understand you have to find a trade partner, but is their some contract reason or something I am missing?

It's a long season. You need bodies. He's a fine 13th forward. People tend to forget though that Q had him on the FIRST line until he got hurt. The only reason we got to experience Saad.

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Team Cutler.

Carcillo on the first line should be in the "is it time for Q to go thread ?" in the debit column

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I want a 2nd line center, it's been long overdue. I think to get one though will have to sacrifice Bickell. I love Bolland, but he's been playing himself off the team all year then he scores a huge goal to make you remember him. Kruger is your 3rd or 4th line guy and he should be cheap to resign. Derek Roy and Vincent Lecavalier would be interesting options.

Bickell had a nice run in the playoffs but I think the Hawks can live without him next season. Bolland had some stretches of bad, some very long stretches of bad and I'd hate to say a GWG would make the world forget those stretches.
I just don't see either as irreplaceable.
FUCK CARCILLO. Do not need. He doesn't at all fit this team, his presence didn't stop anyone gooning it up on our stars and I just don't see any real value other than he converts oxygen into carbon dioxide so that our plants might get a touch greener.
I wouldn't miss Frolik, or Rozsival.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

You can replace with Roszival with somebody from Rockford. Does Brookbank stay? Maybe throw him in a trade. Bickell can be replaced with Jimmy Hayes or Morin.

I didn't think he would but I'm guessing Brookbank does indeed stay. He won't get more icetime, but he'd do the same shit anywhere else.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I was reading that the Wild will be trying to move Clutterbuck. I would much rather have him as the resident shithead than Carcillo.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!