If Fleury decides to play, the Hawks will shuffle other pieces to clear cap space. If Fleury retires, the situation changes. Brandon Hagel and Alex Nylander also need new contracts regardless.
After an impossibly busy two-week period, the Blackhawks’ hyperactive offseason has reached a waiting moment.
Seth Jones, Caleb Jones, Jake McCabe, Tyler Johnson, Jujhar Khaira, Lukas Reichel and Henrik Borgstrom have already been brought in. Duncan Keith, Adam Boqvist, Nikita Zadorov, Pius Suter, David Kampf, Vinnie Hinostroza and John Quenneville have already left.
But the Hawks’ plans for the remainder of summer largely depend on Marc-Andre Fleury, the former Golden Knights goalie currently deciding whether he’ll play for the Hawks in 2021-22, request a trade to the Penguins or retire.
If Fleury decides to play, that presents one kind of to-do list for Hawks general manager Stan Bowman. If Fleury decides not to play, that presents an entirely different list. There are only a few things left to determine independently of Fleury’s decision.
Here’s Bowman’s remaining offseason checklist:
Re-Sign Hagel, Nylander
It’s a given the Hawks will get restricted-free-agent forwards Brandon Hagel and Alex Nylander signed to new contracts, but there’s no rush to do it promptly. Neither hold arbitration rights nor will attract offer-sheet interest.
Rough contract estimates that make sense are two years at $2 million (per year) for Hagel and one year at $1 million — a prove-yourself deal — for Nylander.
If Fleury comes: Resolve cap jam
Including Fleury’s hefty $7 million cap hit, the Hawks’ payroll currently totals about $82.2 million, which is $700,000 over the cap — although teams can exceed the cap by up to 10%, or about $8 million, during the offseason. Adding in Hagel and Nylander’s aforementioned estimated cap hits, the Hawks would be $3.7 million over the cap.
Moving Andrew Shaw’s $3.9 million cap hit to long-term injured reserve would theoretically make the math work.
But not only will Bowman have to decide between offseason LTIR and in-season LTIR — two different types with complicated math that somewhat limit roster flexibility despite providing cap relief — but he’d also prefer not to enter October that tight to the cap. That would essentially prevent the Hawks from making any call-ups when other players inevitably suffer injuries.
The most obvious solution would be to trade Calvin de Haan ($4.55 million), whose name has been in rumors all summer. De Haan’s departure would leave a hole in the left side of the defense, though: neither Caleb Jones nor Riley Stillman seem ready for a second-pairing role.
Dylan Strome ($3 million), whose spot among the overcrowded forward group remains uncertain, could be an alternative trade option. Or Bowman could trade de Haan, then trade Strome for a de Haan replacement.
Meanwhile, trading Malcolm Subban ($850,000) wouldn’t solve the cap jam, but would be smarter than losing him on waivers during training camp — an inevitability if Fleury and Kevin Lankinen are the Hawks’ two NHL goalies. With several teams left in the cold during Wednesday’s chaotic goalie shuffle, Subban will have value.
All in all, Fleury’s arrival would require intense shuffling by Bowman — but it’d be certainly worth it for the reigning Vezina Trophy winner.
If Fleury doesn’t come: Final touches
If Fleury retires (or is traded), his $7 million hit will be negated and the Hawks will actually have a decent amount of financial flexibility again.
They could use a little of it on a replacement veteran goalie, something clearly identified as a target despite the Lankinen-Subban tandem’s unexpected competency in 2021. The UFA goalie market is bare: Devan Dubnyk, basically the only guy left, isn’t an upgrade. But a trade with a goalie-flush team like the Stars could happen.
Bowman will still need to determine Shaw’s LTIR. Strome might remain in trade discussions, too, with so many forwards on the roster: Hagel and Nylander’s re-signings will give the Hawks 15 or 16, more than they can actually carry.
And the Hawks could peek at the remaining UFA selection of left-handed veteran depth defensemen: Jon Merrill, Brendan Smith, Ben Hutton and Jordie Benn are options.
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/3yf2ijB
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