If Hossa tells the Hawks he is going to retire they have to use a compliance buyout (amnesty) on him because the cap penalties to just let him retire are insane.

As for replacements, obviously you're never going to find another gem like Hossa who busts his butt on every shift and is a team leader, but with all the buyouts and guys being shopped for cap reasons this off-season, we could, in theory, nab someone that in most years wouldn't be available.
- Hemingways

Yea I had a brain fart on the retirement thing. I am sure if Hoss is ready to hang em up he'll have a CBO exercised against him. I'd like Hossa to remain in the organization if possible. He's world class in every aspect of hockey and life. Great, high character guy and a face of what we want our Chicago Blackhawks to be.

Bobby ryan come on down, Nick Leddy, Welcome to Anaheim?
- ikeane

No...the chances of the Ducks making a trade with the Blackhawks are slim and none.

You are great! I wouldn't mind reading more of your tweets,hopefully you will be in full force during the draft..if not,I assume you will have a draft review some time next week at the website or here maybe? If not for all teams,then at least for the Blackhawks?
- captainserious

That is in JJs side of the court, the article was written last week, and our lawyers are discussing the date of publication...

Yea I had a brain fart on the retirement thing. I am sure if Hoss is ready to hang em up he'll have a CBO exercised against him. I'd like Hossa to remain in the organization if possible. He's world class in every aspect of hockey and life. Great, high character guy and a face of what we want our Chicago Blackhawks to be.
- kwolf68

I'd think we all would, but hasn't he stated a preference to retire home to Slovakia? Hell, with his money, he could buy the country and make himself king!

Why wouldn't he be a top six in two years....How long has Selanne been a top six in anaheim?
- UnnamedSource

Here's the issue.....

When the 2015-16 season starts, that's 2 years from now.....

You have the following:

Kane and toews--8.7 each for 8 years...comparables are Perry and Getzlaf and that may be LOW for them at that point.
Sharp at 5.9 for another 2 years
Seabrook at 5.8 at age 30 and do you extend him?
Keith at 5.538 for another 7 years
And then you have.....
Crawford at 2.66 with this next year being his last of his deal. Do the Hawks have an in house replacement? Ahh....no. So his contract is going up.
Hammer at 3.5 who will be need to be extended after this year....So considering he's been there best defenseman...arguably, you are signing him....

At all the same rates you are at 40.79 for 7 guys...Figure at least another 4 million in combined raises to Crawford AND Hammer...so call it 45 million for 7 guys....Then you get Hossa and you are at 50 million for 8 guys....

So you have 14 spots to fill......and all of maybe 20-24 million in cap space? That's not including the raises that may come to Leddy and Bickell....

So yeah.....I am concerned and that's not being negative...They dont' buy out Hossa and you very well may have to let Hammer or Crawford walk next summer, because guys like Saad, Leddy, and Bickell will have big money deals by that point or LOOMING.

That's my point.

I'd think we all would, but hasn't he stated a preference to retire home to Slovakia? Hell, with his money, he could buy the country and make himself king!
- Q...argh

LMAO. I don't know if he is retiring home or not. Did he say that? He'll be missed either way.

Remember When...


Remember when the Hawks streak was a mirage because they couldn't win like that in the playoffs?

Remember when Stan Bowman was the worst GM in hockey?

Remember when Stan Bowman never made significant trades or signings and didn't utilize the cap space from the 2010 dismantling?

Remember when this team wouldn't make a deep run in the playoffs against the bigger stronger teams of the West?

Remember when the core needed to be broken up and heads of the organization needed to be fired after going down to Detroit?

Remember when the Hawks had no shot against the big bad hard hitting Kings?

Remember when the Hawks had no shot against the bigger badder harder hitting Bruins?

Remember when going down only 2-1 to Bruins, the Hawks were too small upfront to contend in this series and big physical teams are always better than small finesse teams?

Remember?

Here's the issue.....

When the 2015-16 season starts, that's 2 years from now.....

You have the following:

Kane and toews--8.7 each for 8 years...comparables are Perry and Getzlaf and that may be LOW for them at that point.
Sharp at 5.9 for another 2 years
Seabrook at 5.8 at age 30 and do you extend him?
Keith at 5.538 for another 7 years
And then you have.....
Crawford at 2.66 with this next year being his last of his deal. Do the Hawks have an in house replacement? Ahh....no. So his contract is going up.
Hammer at 3.5 who will be need to be extended after this year....So considering he's been there best defenseman...arguably, you are signing him....

At all the same rates you are at 40.79 for 7 guys...Figure at least another 4 million in combined raises to Crawford AND Hammer...so call it 45 million for 7 guys....Then you get Hossa and you are at 50 million for 8 guys....

So you have 14 spots to fill......and all of maybe 20-24 million in cap space? That's not including the raises that may come to Leddy and Bickell....

So yeah.....I am concerned and that's not being negative...They dont' buy out Hossa and you very well may have to let Hammer or Crawford walk next summer, because guys like Saad, Leddy, and Bickell will have big money deals by that point or LOOMING.

That's my point.
- SteveRain

It DOES make sense.

Why wouldn't he be a top six in two years....How long has Selanne been a top six in anaheim?
- UnnamedSource

Selanne isn't signed until 2021 and has a cap hit of 3.25-4.5 the past 3 years...all on 1 year deals. Big difference.

It's not so much Hossa the player, it's Hossa's contract vs what you are getting back...

No...the chances of the Ducks making a trade with the Blackhawks are slim and none.
- UnnamedSource

Most years, but Ducks need to get younger on D, If Hossa leaves, hawks need a physical winger that can score. With cap going down, makes them unlikely trade partners, but a potential match IMHO

This will be the McDavid draft, correct?
- FredoXV

Yeah I only did the profiles on the top five kids, but there is another FAT THICK class of really fast good skating players.

The AMERICAN KID Jack Eichel is solid big centre forwrd who was good for the US last time I saw him so fast too, not McDavid but really something.Jack Eichel

I was hoping to get the first two rounds of 2015 draft up but instead I am here...
Just starting:
Noah Hanifin
Matthew Barzal
Dylan Strome
Rasmus Andersson
Ryan Pilon
Jordan Greenway
Zack Werenski
Oliver Kylington
Ryan Gropp
Gustav Franzen
Colin White
Conor Cummins
Medric Mercier
Alesksi Saarela
Evgeni Svechnikov
Jeremiah Addison
Matthew Spencer
Jansen Harkins
Travis Konecny
Kevin Davis
Brett McKenzie
Nicholas Roy
Erik Cernak
Hayden McCool
Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson
Ivan Provorov
Lawson Crouse
Pavel Zacha
Denis Yan
Mitchell Stephens
Jérémy Roy
Anthony Beauvillier
David Miller
Tom Novak
Matthew Freytag
Christiano Versich

watch you will see this list on Carig buttons website or Hockey's future before the day is out as theirs...It wouldn't be the first time...Tim Sasson borrowed an entire hawk draft summation I did and post word for word at the Carolina draft that we got Bickell. I posted it and at 5pm after the second night (the draft ended early that Sunday) on Monday there it was...and the thing is I made sure mine wasn't the vanilla press release stuff I could tell by the words (it is not like anyone writes with my stream) he used it.
I was devastted...but look now I am giving the Phoenix HockeyBuzz "expert" more advance draft info so he can look like he knows what he talking about...because although YOU guys haven't gone to draftSite, he most certainly did after I corrected his think on various first rounders...he not only read it he became IT.

I hope he enjoys 2015 in advance....

It DOES make sense.
- Q...argh

That is beyond cap hell..that makes 2010 look like a well managed business.....

Yes...when I said Hossa to 'retire'...I meant they would work some deal out such as buying out, but how did that impact the Hawks cap situation now. A buy still means some money remains on the Cap books?

That said, I believe in order to repeat as cup champions retaining Hossa is a large part of that puzzle. As JJ said, he's not replaceable.
- kwolf68

Sorry if this has already been answered, I'm still back reading page 7, but no, the compliance buyouts (also called amnesty or CBO) have no cap hit. Each team gets 2 of them and they have to be used either this off-season or next off-season. A regular buyout does have a cap hit.

In one sense it would seem odd to pay Hossa $31 mil in cash after he says he's retiring, but the cap hit if they don't is pretty bad. They'd be looking at over $9 mil in a cap hit in the 2018-19 season, I believe, with the hit going all the way to the 2019-20 season, or something like that, whenever his contract is due to end, you get penalized.

Hossa's in a different position than most players because the NHL flagged his contract as one of 40 that have phony years added on the end to lower the total cap hit. Those 40 players will bring a special cap penalty to recoup what the teams benefitted. It's complicated and reporters and fans don't agree on what the actual numbers are despite it simply being math, lol, but nobody seems to know exactly what the numbers are.

Here's the first article I saw this in months ago, but others here, I think Ogie, has pointed out there are many other articles with contradictory numbers on what the penalty is.

http://sports.yahoo.com/b...racts-153717517--nhl.html

Lol

Jamie Kompon...

Back to Back Stanley Cup Champion !!!!

Lol
- mrpaulish

My vote is trade him to a contender and see if he goes 3 for 3 in cups

Here's the issue.....

When the 2015-16 season starts, that's 2 years from now.....

You have the following:

Kane and toews--8.7 each for 8 years...comparables are Perry and Getzlaf and that may be LOW for them at that point.
Sharp at 5.9 for another 2 years
Seabrook at 5.8 at age 30 and do you extend him?
Keith at 5.538 for another 7 years
And then you have.....
Crawford at 2.66 with this next year being his last of his deal. Do the Hawks have an in house replacement? Ahh....no. So his contract is going up.
Hammer at 3.5 who will be need to be extended after this year....So considering he's been there best defenseman...arguably, you are signing him....

At all the same rates you are at 40.79 for 7 guys...Figure at least another 4 million in combined raises to Crawford AND Hammer...so call it 45 million for 7 guys....Then you get Hossa and you are at 50 million for 8 guys....

So you have 14 spots to fill......and all of maybe 20-24 million in cap space? That's not including the raises that may come to Leddy and Bickell....

So yeah.....I am concerned and that's not being negative...They dont' buy out Hossa and you very well may have to let Hammer or Crawford walk next summer, because guys like Saad, Leddy, and Bickell will have big money deals by that point or LOOMING.

That's my point.
- SteveRain

Steve, I get your point. However, trying to look two off-season out and worrying about that cap situation now doesn't make sense. At least to me. We don't know how much the cap ceiling will go up (or down) between now and then. We also don't know who might get traded, injured, rise or fall between now and that time. Too many variables to look at two years out.

Here's the issue.....

When the 2015-16 season starts, that's 2 years from now.....

You have the following:

Kane and toews--8.7 each for 8 years...comparables are Perry and Getzlaf and that may be LOW for them at that point.
Sharp at 5.9 for another 2 years
Seabrook at 5.8 at age 30 and do you extend him?
Keith at 5.538 for another 7 years
And then you have.....
Crawford at 2.66 with this next year being his last of his deal. Do the Hawks have an in house replacement? Ahh....no. So his contract is going up.
Hammer at 3.5 who will be need to be extended after this year....So considering he's been there best defenseman...arguably, you are signing him....

At all the same rates you are at 40.79 for 7 guys...Figure at least another 4 million in combined raises to Crawford AND Hammer...so call it 45 million for 7 guys....Then you get Hossa and you are at 50 million for 8 guys....

So you have 14 spots to fill......and all of maybe 20-24 million in cap space? That's not including the raises that may come to Leddy and Bickell....

So yeah.....I am concerned and that's not being negative...They dont' buy out Hossa and you very well may have to let Hammer or Crawford walk next summer, because guys like Saad, Leddy, and Bickell will have big money deals by that point or LOOMING.

That's my point.
- SteveRain

Sure it all makes sense but things have a way of working itself out. All of this is a scenario that could happen but more than likely won't. Who's to say Sharp and Seabrook finish their contracts in a Hawk sweater. Maybe Crawford is replaced after next year by the newly signed Raanta. You talk as if they don't have a replacement but you are also talking about two years from now. Hammer will likely be resigned.........and Leddy may not.......you have prospects in the system who fill some of these spots but again suggesting Hossa is a bottom six in two years is based on nothing which was your original argument.....and now it's about cap space 2 years from now.

Remember When...


Remember when the Hawks streak was a mirage because they couldn't win like that in the playoffs?

Remember when Stan Bowman was the worst GM in hockey?

Remember when Stan Bowman never made significant trades or signings and didn't utilize the cap space from the 2010 dismantling?

Remember when this team wouldn't make a deep run in the playoffs against the bigger stronger teams of the West?

Remember when the core needed to be broken up and heads of the organization needed to be fired after going down to Detroit?

Remember when the Hawks had no shot against the big bad hard hitting Kings?

Remember when the Hawks had no shot against the bigger badder harder hitting Bruins?

Remember when going down only 2-1 to Bruins, the Hawks were too small upfront to contend in this series and big physical teams are always better than small finesse teams?

Remember?
- Bhawks35

Selanne isn't signed until 2021 and has a cap hit of 3.25-4.5 the past 3 years...all on 1 year deals. Big difference.

It's not so much Hossa the player, it's Hossa's contract vs what you are getting back...
- SteveRain

Again, you are moving your argument. You stated Hossa is going to be a bottom six in two years as if it was a for sure thing.......I'm saying it's not.

Most years, but Ducks need to get younger on D, If Hossa leaves, hawks need a physical winger that can score. With cap going down, makes them unlikely trade partners, but a potential match IMHO
- ikeane

Will never happen....

Remember When...


Remember when the Hawks streak was a mirage because they couldn't win like that in the playoffs?

Remember when Stan Bowman was the worst GM in hockey?

Remember when Stan Bowman never made significant trades or signings and didn't utilize the cap space from the 2010 dismantling?

Remember when this team wouldn't make a deep run in the playoffs against the bigger stronger teams of the West?

Remember when the core needed to be broken up and heads of the organization needed to be fired after going down to Detroit?

Remember when the Hawks had no shot against the big bad hard hitting Kings?

Remember when the Hawks had no shot against the bigger badder harder hitting Bruins?

Remember when going down only 2-1 to Bruins, the Hawks were too small upfront to contend in this series and big physical teams are always better than small finesse teams?

Remember?
- Bhawks35

In my best Chris Farley impersonation:

Hey Dave Bolland...remember that oe time...when like you guys were losing in game 6,and Frolik redirected an Oduya shot to the front of the net,and you beat Boychuk to it and scored the game winner with less than a minute to go? Do you remember?

Dave Bolland: Yeah

Chris Farley: That was awesome!
Rip big guy!

LMAO. I don't know if he is retiring home or not. Did he say that? He'll be missed either way.
- kwolf68

Don't forget he will be playing with his Brother for Slovakia in the Olympics this winter

Don't forget he will be playing with his Brother for Slovakia in the Olympics this winter
- Maggie

We got the Olympics coming up again. So who won the Stanley Cup the last time the Olympics were played?

Some thoughts.....


Stephen Johns....based on his twitter feed when he said "last day at ND, crazy" at the beginning of June is expected to play in RFD next year however I would think he is two years away from being up with the Hawks.
- UnnamedSource

yeah I heard he was going pro but just didn't see how they were gonna fit a contract right now.
He starts in Rockford, but he has exception feet and will quickly adjust i believ and be the one who pressures Stanton's spot as the 6/7 before next seaosn is over.
Again they like to take it slow with these guys, but he has seen lots of international competition and quicker attackers so I'm betting he adjust nicely ovee the next year....but not as a Hawk right away.

Again, you are moving your argument. You stated Hossa is going to be a bottom six in two years as if it was a for sure thing.......I'm saying it's not.
- UnnamedSource

He may be a top 6 in 2 years...may be...but he also was an extremely durable player and the past 2 years injuries have taken their toll on him. As they do with everyone as they approach 35+.

I promise you wont be a top player in 2021.....

Again, I love Hossa but the contract he has it makes very hard to keep him past next season based on age, term, and cap hit.

Steve, I get your point. However, trying to look two off-season out and worrying about that cap situation now doesn't make sense. At least to me. We don't know how much the cap ceiling will go up (or down) between now and then. We also don't know who might get traded, injured, rise or fall between now and that time. Too many variables to look at two years out.
- EKolb13

I don't disagree, but it's something to keep an eye on....

That's all I am getting at....Like before the lower tier guys who were affordable, and are younger, are approaching contracts that will double/triple their salaries if they produce...and then you have to weight keeping them over a guy like Hossa...

That's all.....again, not being negative, just trying to keep an eye on the future and realize that while I would love to keep all 22 guys, it's not possible, and some very hard decisions will have to be made.