Exploiting Cap Hell: Chicago Blackhawks Edition
7 years ago
For the second year in a row, it appears that NHL teams living close to the salary cap are in for a difficult season. We don’t have a final salary cap number yet and won’t until the NHLPA decides what it wants to do with is escalator option, but it’s reasonable to expect something between the current level of $71.4 million and a possible high of $74 million.
For a lot of teams, that means trouble. For clubs like the Edmonton Oilers, it might mean opportunity. Today’s potential target: the Chicago Blackhawks.
Previously in this series:
Depth Chart
Chicago is in trouble.
|
Total cap hit: $72.0 million
Total cap space: -$0.6 million to $2.0 million
Points worth noting:
- Artemi Panarin is actually on an entry-level deal, so if he doesn’t reach all his bonuses he could come in below that figure of $3.5 million. However, he’s also going to have bonus overages from this season’s performance (he’s probably the favourite to win the Calder at this point) applied to next season, so this is very much a reasonable ballpark figure.
- Andrew Shaw had a $2.0 million cap hit and $2.5 million salary this past season; he’s going to get raises on both those figures on his next deal. Richard Panik and Dennis Rasmussen, if retained, should be nice and cheap, though.
- Andrew Ladd isn’t listed above, but would fill that No. 1 spot at left wing. He’s going to be expensive, but has hinted that he’d take a discount to sign on with the Blackhawks.
Targets for Edmonton
A year ago in this series, I mentioned Brent Seabrook, Bryan Bickell and Corey Crawford as possible targets for Edmonton. Today we should cross Seabrook off the list (age and contract make him a bad fit) and Crawford (increasingly important to the Blackhawks) as well. Let’s put a pin in Bickell for now.
Andrew Shaw is an obvious fit for Edmonton and an obvious trade piece for Chicago. The Blackhawks would need to give him a $2.5 million qualifying offer, and if he signs it the team is over a barrel. He’s a right-shooting centre/wing, turns 25 over the summer and while he lacks size (5’11”, 179 pounds) he plays an aggressive physical game. He doesn’t have a history as a penalty-killer, but can play tough defensive minutes at five-on-five and is also capable of jumping to a scoring line and handling power play work.
Marcus Kruger is another possibility. He went goalless and managed just four assists in a brutal defensive role (299 defensive zone draws, just 221 combined offensive/neutral zone draws) with precious little help this year. I wonder a little if Chicago has soured on him after an off year given his contract; he’s been a better scorer in prior campaigns and could be a third-line centre/penalty kill fit.
Bickell (6’4”, 223 pounds, 30 years old) is in the last year of a terrible contract, and Chicago is presumably willing to pay another team in assets to take him off the books. He’d be a decent fit in Edmonton in a fourth-line role.
Trevor van Riemsdyk would be a good fit for the Oilers, but given his two-year sweetheart extension and Chicago’s cap problems, the ‘Hawks would be nuts to move him.
Of the team’s remaining defencemen, David Rundblad is intriguing. Coach Joel Quenneville hasn’t taken to the 25-year-old right-shot rearguard, and Chicago might be interested in shaving a few hundred grand off the cap by dealing him and replacing him with a cheaper free agent. Rundblad put up 15 points in 11 games in Switzerland’s top league after heading overseas at midseason. As a power play specialist in a No. 6/7 role in Edmonton he could potentially be useful.
Chicago is a good trade fit for Edmonton. Shaw in particular is an appealing piece for the third line and the Oilers also have the cap space to do something like Korpikoski-for-Bickell+. There isn’t an impact defenceman available here, but if the Oilers add a shutdown player (like Travis Hamonic) as their big defenceman this summer, doing something like trading for David Rundblad to fill the power play niche could well make sense.
RECENTLY BY JONATHAN WILLIS
Recent articles from Jonathan Willis
