Where did you see that?
- Dannyboy

Can I get a translation ?

http://isport.blesk.cz/cl...ka-nhl-byla-mym-snem.html

Good blog JJ. Bowman Sr. is the master at average goalie and above average defense. But CC does not make average money these days. Cap space is what they need. The management council poop the bed with the Sharp/Daley trade. I could see Crawford going first because they have a guy to replace him in house. Not so with Seabrook or anyone else considered a core player.

And for all those who are going to say Darling is inconsistent, so are his minutes. Give him consistent minutes and Jimmy Waite dialing him in and I believe he will hold up his end.
- 6628

It's mostly anecdotal but it seems to me the more he plays, the better he plays.

You see the logic here, 6628. It's a fairly high risk move but Waite and having some kind of plausible replacement in house (paid dirt cheap) makes it something they may have to look at. And they may already have looked at.

Where did you see that?
- Dannyboy

http://isport.blesk.cz/cl...ka-nhl-byla-mym-snem.html

If you use Chrome it will translate the article - but here is the headline from 13 hours ago "Kempný heading to Chicago: it attracts me a lot, the NHL was my dream" with a picture of him and the Hawks logo

"Even though the contract is signed and can not be," said 25-year Kempný fact that a new contract can seal signing up after the last game of the season, in his case after the end of the World Cup. "But of course that attracted me a lot. NHL was always my dream, and we'll see how it all turns out, "he added.

It's mostly anecdotal but it seems to me the more he plays, the better he plays.

You see the logic here, 6628. It's a fairly high risk move but Waite and having some kind of plausible replacement in house (paid dirt cheap) makes it something they may have to look at. And they may already have looked at.
- John Jaeckel

haven't checked through the end of the season but the Curtis Sanford comparison was tracking last I checked..... Of course, the sample size is ridiculously small.

Crow to Winnipeg or Calgary. Book it!
- EnzoD

Unless Calgary hires Boudreau and trades for Andersen. Then Calgary is out.

PS...Hartley was fired, if you hadn't heard.

Interesting point of view on goalies and coaches. You could throw Rinne into that situation as well with goalie coach Mitch Korn leaving Nashville and now coaching Holtby in Washington.
- wrister

Thx, it's just been my observation with certain goalies.

Scouting report on that D man ?

Good news...but can I ask how you know this?
- DarthKane

He has a source, legit too, from what I know

Unless Calgary hires Boudreau and trades for Andersen. Then Calgary is out.

PS...Hartley was fired, if you hadn't heard.
- CanOCorn

Bourdeau to CGY makes a ton of sense.

I'd trade Seabrook before Crawford. He'll have a $6.875m cap hit over the next eight years. Given his play this year, it barely seems worth it now; it'll look even worse down the line. That's cap space is something the Hawks badly need. I love Brent Seabrook and I'd hate to see him leave, but the salary cap doesn't leave much room for sentiment.

My understanding is that 7 has a modified NTC in his current contract. The details are unknown, but my guess is that he has to submit a list of at least some teams he'll accept a trade to. Once the extension kicks in (July 1, right?), it goes to a full NMC, which significantly reduces flexibility and also (from what I understand) requires the Hawks to protect him in an expansion draft.

So I'd look to trade Seabrook before July 1. Of course, you have to have a plan in place for a 3D.
- darklighter

Our defense already sucks but you would trade one of our only good guys SHOCKING

There are only three things that will happen with Hossa because of the massive cap penalties:

1) He plays until the end of his contract
2) Once his actually salary goes down to 1M per season, he finds a doctor that can verify he is injured and goes on LTIR until his contact expires (see Pronger)
3) If that buyout thing is actually real at the expansion draft he will get bought out - and will then retire

I personally think option two is most likely what will end up happening at some point, maybe not the first year when is salary goes down, but at some point 1M a year is not worth putting your body through the grind of the season

Scouting report on that D man ?
- mrpaulish

Smallish but compact—6', 195. Plays left side. Made Czech World Cup team. That's all I know.

Looks like a big shot, he is playing for the Czech Republic (1 of only 2 non NHL'ers) in the World Cup so that will provide a better insight against top NHL players

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPFw5AOBGWw

So because you don't think Seabrook is worth it, now is a good time to trade him? Why would another team want him then? At that price?

Dynasty officially over. Thanks for playing. Seabrook is going to be fine, he is the perfect example of a player who needs rest and some competent players around him on defense.
- kwolf68

I wouldn't trade for him if I were a GM. But GMs do stupid and sometimes desperate things.

That said, I sure hope you're right about him.

What do you get if you trade Brent Seabrook? Nobody is going to give the Blackhawks his younger/cheaper replacement.

Also, then you are relying even more on Corey Crawford to be a game-breaker. I believe this year showed that he cannot do it with three solid defensemen. Why should the Blackhawks think he can do it with two?
- tgentry1084

No idea what you get for him. If you can't make your team better, then you don't do it. But if you are able to move him off the books, that could open space for you to do something else. For example, this past offseason, the Chicago Cubs traded Starlin Castro for a pitcher, Adam Warren, who's just a bullpen guy this year (there's a chance he's more, but not yet). But by trading Castro, they opened up room in the budget to sign his replacement, Ben Zobrist. They can't do that unless they move Castro.

Again, I don't know what opportunities are out there. I'm not on that email list. But if you can put together a decent return for Seabrook -- and that includes whatever other moves you can make with any cap space you open -- I think you really have to consider it. His trade value isn't going to rise as he gets older.

Smallish but compact—6', 195. Plays left side. Made Czech World Cup team. That's all I know.
- John Jaeckel

That's the Hawks number one quality when looking for Defensemen.

No idea what you get for him. If you can't make your team better, then you don't do it. But if you are able to move him off the books, that could open space for you to do something else. For example, this past offseason, the Chicago Cubs traded Starlin Castro for a pitcher, Adam Warren, who's just a bullpen guy this year (there's a chance he's more, but not yet). But by trading Castro, they opened up room in the budget to sign his replacement, Ben Zobrist. They can't do that unless they move Castro.

Again, I don't know what opportunities are out there. I'm not on that email list. But if you can put together a decent return for Seabrook -- and that includes whatever other moves you can make with any cap space you open -- I think you really have to consider it. His trade value isn't going to rise as he gets older.
- darklighter

Just a horrible idea, who do you replace him with, Runblad?

That's the Hawks number one quality when looking for Defensemen.
- Hank3Henshaw

I bet you TvR gains about 10 lbs of muscle this offseason getting him closer to 200 lbs. And if they sign Kempny, then all of your D is 6' or taller and 190 or bigger. I think that's a good sized backline. (except for Gus)

What's with the Panarin comment re: the cap? Is that being understood as "he's unhappy"? (I can't imagine why, after the season he had playing with Kane) or is he just saying he thinks it could be a tough spot that they're in?

There can't be a real chance he's not in a Hawks sweater next year, one would have to assume.
- eichiefs9

Unless he's a holdout (which doesn't really happen), he'll be here. I would take his comment to mean he sees the writing on the salary cap wall and it will be near impossible to get $6-7mil/yr on a new contract in Chicago.

I'd hate to see Crawford go but I can understand the finances of it. Heck, Leighton could be a good enough back up and then you're barely paying $1.1m for both of your goalies next year. That's over $5m of cap relief. Buy out Bicks too and resign Shaw and get a top-4 defenseman or maybe resign Ladd. That's a lot of flexibility.

The other one I wonder about is Seabrook, any word on him? I think he has NMC but it'd be nice to flip him for someone younger and cheaper.

i am with ya...stopped reading them a couple of years ago..their explitive laden posts were tiresome and not funny...even more so when when they would get on their explitive laced sactimonious rants...

the kid ross gets himself in trouble and then is not prosecuted because of laws or lack the of in another state...the hawk orgnaization is now branded as "hateful" toward women...
- bogiedoc

I have learned to try to avoid delving into the players' personal lives. It is a boundary I observe more stringently now than in the past—but HB writers are actually pretty much asked to steer clear except when it's a matter of public record.

My stance on the Kane/Ross stuff is in the blog.

My feeling was the Kane stuff was bad for the team's brand and I stick by it. Anyone remember the presser in South Bend? Oy. So the Ross stuff definitely falls into that same category.

All that said, when he wasn't convicted of anything and the accuser's story became "flimsy," I let it go. I wasn't there. i don't know exactly what happened, nor does anyone who assumes Kane was 100% innocent. I do know he hasn't been in the past and it is the track record in entirety that can threaten his association with the team's or any endorsement's brand.

Again, I don't know that anything happened last summer that he was actually guilty of vis a vis a crime.

So, that's done. But there are those who have soured on the team a bit (rightly or wrongly) and my point in the blog was/is, losing doesn't help. Winning does.

Not saying that's right either. It's just how things are in sports. And brands matter in sports, especially when you're (for now) the top team brand in the NHL in the 3rd largest media market on the continent.

I don't endorse Hockeenight's style or point of view in entirety, but a lot of their stuff was funny as hell, even if I cringed a bit at the profanity because it is so alien to what I do here, and Fork is a great guy and a good friend.

I bet you TvR gains about 10 lbs of muscle this offseason getting him closer to 200 lbs. And if they sign Kempny, then all of your D is 6' or taller and 190 or bigger. I think that's a good sized backline. (except for Gus)
- CanOCorn

It'll be interesting to see what the blue line looks like after this summer.

In reply to Tumbleweed regarding the movability/immovability of Marian Hossa, it's my understanding that the Blackhawks current cap benefit on Marian Hossa is around $18.375m. If they trade him this year, they are stuck with that cap benefit. If he retires at any time prior to the end of his contract, the Blackhawks would be on the hook for the $18.375m divided by the years remaining on the deal.

For example, if the Blackhawks trade Marian Hossa this offseason, and he retires at the end of 2019, the cap hit for the Blackhawks during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons would be $9.1875m (Cap benefit / years remaining = cap hit).

He may not be viewed as immovable by other teams, but I don't feel that this is a risk the Blackhawks are willing to take.

Then again, I could be completely wrong regarding the recapture rules.
- tgentry1084

If he is bought out, I think they save $650k for the remaining years of the contract relative to his $5.275M AAV hit now. If he retires, they save $1M relative to his AAV hit now.

Basically, either is about the price of his replacement player...

I have no idea how this works out in the future, but getting rid of his cap hit when he is no longer playing is critical...

Any truth to the rumor teams may be allowed one compliance buyout related tonthe expansion draft? I saw it mentioned on this board several days ago.
- blackhawk24

Not sure if the original articles from PuckDaddy and other outlets actually said it WAS a compliance buyout. I think it was more like an expansion draft would be equivalent to a compliance buyout.

Who are the players that can be protected, and what about cap recapture rules if a player is made available who signed a long-term contract prior to the 2013 CBA??

It'll be interesting to see what the blue line looks like after this summer.
- Hank3Henshaw

Gaining ten pounds of functional muscle in a summer for a "skinny-ish" guy like TVR is very unlikely.

Maybe 5 pounds.

I find it hard to believe he has not done power skating camps in summers past and worked specifically on his short area quickness/acceleration. That issue is nothing new for him. Maybe there is a guru they can get him with who squeezes a little more out or some added strength/explosiveness will help. But there is only so much you can do with the genetics God gave you, at some point.