Oh Toews :

Hey Webs good luck in Montreal thanks for leaving our division! #relief

Ha, just meaning that Stan stubbornly won't deal him because he was "smart" enough to get him.
- RedFeather

I don't get this board sometimes. Eveyone whined that the Hawks needed a big 2C for 3+ years. Stan gets one, re-signs him for a relatively average deal, now everyone thinks he should trade him and he's not worth it? AA at 4.5 is not a bad deal.

Ha, just meaning that Stan stubbornly won't deal him because he was "smart" enough to get him.
- RedFeather

I think he doesn't want to move him because he's a legit Center.

The PAK line was incredible for 80-90% of the season.

Just out of curiousity (and not being smart) why would you want to move him and what/who would like to see come back for him?

No disagreement here. But if he ships off AA. Then taking on an additional $800K isn't so bad
- 93Joe

Agreed.

I don't get this board sometimes. Eveyone whined that the Hawks needed a big 2C for 3+ years. Stan gets one, re-signs him for a relatively average deal, now everyone thinks he should trade him and he's not worth it? AA at 4.5 is not a bad deal.
- JRoenick97

THANK YOU!

I don't get why so many people want to see AA moved. Guy is a legit Center.

No disagreement here. But if he ships off AA. Then taking on an additional $800K isn't so bad
- 93Joe

Agreed. AA isn't part of any core or backbone to what the Hawks have done or will do. If he's a bosom buddy for Panarin? Pretty expensive babysitter. I'd trade AA, get Tikh back from the Motherland and stuff him in the press box at league minimum.

You honestly believe, that if the time came for a Toews and Kane to hit FA, that a team wouldn't make a trade, not sign someone, buyout, etc for the chance to overpay one of them to be on their team?
- HawksHype

I honestly believe that in the summer of 2015, no team was paying either of them north of $10,500,000

no

Seriously. Wow. He took a hometown discount.
- golfbard

No income tax here in Florida.

Stamkos wants to win with those guys...but the question know becomes hoe many of those guys (Kilorn, Kucherov, etc. and in a year the at very least 8 mil Hedman) will be around for many more runs unless they send Bishop packing plenty soon....

Bishop has won nothing and makes 50 dollars less than Crawford...

No I was talking in terms of a 1st or 2nd line LW, that's what I wonder. Does he have his eyes on someone?
- walleyeb1

No clue...But I would be looking.

Ha, just meaning that Stan stubbornly won't deal him because he was "smart" enough to get him.
- RedFeather

I know LOL. Sometimes my sarcasm can get a bit too deep.

I honestly believe that in the summer of 2015, no team was paying either of them north of $10,500,000

no
- hawkeytalkman

Different opinions. Well never know though.

Agreed. AA isn't part of any core or backbone to what the Hawks have done or will do. If he's a bosom buddy for Panarin? Pretty expensive babysitter. I'd trade AA, get Tikh back from the Motherland and stuff him in the press box at league minimum.
- phantasmo

What? Uhhh...

No income tax here in Florida.

Stamkos wants to win with those guys...but the question know becomes hoe many of those guys (Kilorn, Kucherov, etc. and in a year the at very least 8 mil Hedman) will be around for many more runs unless they send Bishop packing plenty soon....

Bishop has won nothing and makes 50 dollars less than Crawford...
- wiz1901

I'm surprised they resigned Stamkos he wouldn't be in my top 3 players there now and the others are a lot less expensive.

We can scratch our balls wondering why they didn't get more for Taylor Hall but with Lucic and they very fact no team was gonna give them a REAL TRUE top pairing defenseman for hall or any of the others they tried to pawn off.

No income tax here in Florida.

Stamkos wants to win with those guys...but the question know becomes hoe many of those guys (Kilorn, Kucherov, etc. and in a year the at very least 8 mil Hedman) will be around for many more runs unless they send Bishop packing plenty soon....

Bishop has won nothing and makes 50 dollars less than Crawford...
- wiz1901

That is a really good team in Tampa. Glad to see Stamkos back with them. In finals two years ago and Eastern Conference Final this past season.

I don't KNOW this, but my hunch is the FO has decided to play the long game and get Panarin re-upped with the loose change they've recouped and fill in with kids and league minimum vets this year.

However, the net change from a team that had already regressed from Cup form last year (pretty much fact, sorry to those of you who keep arguing the point) is probably going to be more in the negative.

I'm not gonna start pumping TT's tires, but he's better today than anything in the pipeline is today. Shaw is gone. Ladd is gone. Weise and Fleischmann are useful players.
- John Jaeckel

What are their options? There is just no way for this team to improve yearly unless they unearth a Panarin every 2-3 years, NO other way. The goal is how much "less worse" will they get every year until the model of 6 core guys eating 67% of the cap and moving anything of value in Rockford for TDL adds, changes. There is no other alternative except to bring in a Gagner, Vanek, Stepniak, Pelley, Campbell type, or two, to contribute in a top 6 role for 1 millish per.

DAL is losing Demers and Goligoski.

STL is losing Shattenkirk, BackAss and Brouwer.

ANA lost Andersen and probably Fowler.

Peg probably loses Trouba.

I could go on and on but the Hawks still have the best core of anyone. If that's not enough to offset getting a bit worse each and every year is the model wrong?

We can scratch our balls wondering why they didn't get more for Taylor Hall but with Lucic and they very fact no team was gonna give them a REAL TRUE top pairing defenseman for hall or any of the others they tried to pawn off.
- wiz1901

You don't get full value when a player has a beaming for sale sign around his neck.

Speaking of Backes .... any value there to the Hawks ? Cant see any team giving him a ton of $

I don't KNOW this, but my hunch is the FO has decided to play the long game and get Panarin re-upped with the loose change they've recouped and fill in with kids and league minimum vets this year.

However, the net change from a team that had already regressed from Cup form last year (pretty much fact, sorry to those of you who keep arguing the point) is probably going to be more in the negative.

I'm not gonna start pumping TT's tires, but he's better today than anything in the pipeline is today. Shaw is gone. Ladd is gone. Weise and Fleischmann are useful players.
- John Jaeckel

They can't let Panarin walk, especially after the Saad situation

I think their Defense is upgraded a little, so maybe there are fewer Chinese fire drills this year. But the forward core... yikes. TT and Shaw WERE the depth scoring, which was pretty poor last year. Toews' line has to be Panarin-Toews-Hossa so that they are a legitimate 5-on-5 threat. Kane was doing just fine with Richards and Versteeg. If trading Anisimov clears $4.5M to sign back both Richards and Versteeg for $4.5M total, I'd say do it. They also better (frank)ing develop Schmaltz and Motte and hope they catch lightning in a bottle there.

Panarin-Toews-Hossa (Hossa-Toews PK)
Versteeg-Richards-Kane
Panik-Schmaltz-Motte
Desjardins-Kruger-Fleischman?? (Desi-Kruger PK)

Of course, with that roster minus Shaw and AA, Toews is the only guy that goes to the net. Heck, he might be the biggest player on the roster.

What are their options? There is just no way for this team to improve yearly unless they unearth a Panarin every 2-3 years, NO other way. The goal is how much "less worse" will they get every year until the model of 6 core guys eating 67% of the cap and moving anything of value in Rockford for TDL changes. There is no other alternative except to bring in a Gagner, Vanek, Stepniak, Pelley, Campbell type, or two, to contribute in a top 6 role for 1 millish per.

DAL is losing Demers and Goligoski.

STL is losing Shattenkirk, BackAss and Brouwer.

ANA lost Andersen and probably Fowler.

Peg probably loses Trouba.

I could go on and on but the Hawks still have the best core of anyone. If that's not enough to offset getting a bit worse each and every year is the model wrong?
- Mr Ricochet

Well said. We need the young guys to step up...like Saad and Shaw and TT did before them. Long offseason of rest too. A couple cheap free agent signings and I think we will compete hard once again for the cup. We have a really good team.

Toews and Kane were not asked anything mostly because NO ONE EVER EXPECTED the Cap to not to continue to rise and rise even more rapidly...I posted a year and a half ago. I thought by 2016-17 it would 125 million.

If it was now or last year, sure they would have been negotiations like what happened with Hammer...

It's really nice to look backward.

...when Lucic signs this 5 year deal with the Oilers you gotta wonder if it impacts them pretty quickly because the rookie of the year (sic) isn't gonna get bridge deal either.

I think he doesn't want to move him because he's a legit Center.

The PAK line was incredible for 80-90% of the season.

Just out of curiousity (and not being smart) why would you want to move him and what/who would like to see come back for him?
- Hank3Henshaw

He is legit. I don't want to move AA... I like me some Artie, but as JJ says almost daily now, these are money decisions. If AA has to go for more value, so be it. There are few choices anymore.

I don't KNOW this, but my hunch is the FO has decided to play the long game and get Panarin re-upped with the loose change they've recouped and fill in with kids and league minimum vets this year.

However, the net change from a team that had already regressed from Cup form last year (pretty much fact, sorry to those of you who keep arguing the point) is probably going to be more in the negative.

I'm not gonna start pumping TT's tires, but he's better today than anything in the pipeline is today. Shaw is gone. Ladd is gone. Weise and Fleischmann are useful players.
- John Jaeckel

In terms of low cost quality vets for the bottom 6, there is two right there. Q should take the leash off of Weise and let him do what he does. Forecheck and hammer people.

Well said. We need the young guys to step up...like Saad and Shaw and TT did before them. Long offseason of rest too. A couple cheap free agent signings and I think we will compete hard once again for the cup. We have a really good team.
- onehundredlevel

Toews and Kane were not asked anything mostly because NO ONE EVER EXPECTED the Cap to not to continue to rise and rise even more rapidly...I posted a year and a half ago. I thought by 2016-17 it would 125 million.

If it was now or last year, sure they would have been negotiations like what happened with Hammer...

It's really nice to look backward.

...when Lucic signs this 5 year deal with the Oilers you gotta wonder if it impacts them pretty quickly because the rookie of the year (sic) isn't gonna get bridge deal either.
- wiz1901

I was joking on twitter that the cap was supposed to be at $80mil+ by now... That was chatter when they both signed their deals. Under those circumstances the deals would be fine.