John Jaeckel: Quick Morning Rumors

First

First
- falseprophet93

second

Trading koogs would be bad for biz. IMO.

GO Jj.

Iwould like McGinn......Hudler, not so much....

I can understand the thinking behind Soupy taking less $$ at 37 but would be shocked if we could sign huddled or McGinn. Both still youngish and putting up decent numbers. Also can't really commit much term or we will be sending Panarin for picks next summer. If Hawks keep a ok roster together for this year without fixing salary balance issues it is short sighted in my mind. That said this just hurts more because it was our first time going "all in " without the parade. Dump another big contract and buckle up.

I don't think McGinn solves anything in the top 6. They would have basically traded Andrew Shaw to gain cap space to sign a player similar to.... Andrew Shaw. McGinn has 91 goals in 450 career games. He would be a nice bottom six addition if he took 2M.

JJ from reading you I understand the value you see in Kruger and I agree. If you lose his entire cap hit how would they plan to back fill. Even if shmaltz can play right away he certainly is not a shut down guy. We have lost TT who Q did trust in defensive situations too. We instantly go back to week in the middle like always. Same if AA is the guy. If we can't move crow, and the possible list of teams seems to be shrinking if not gone how will the ever get back to a balanced roster? How much longer can we keep this shell game up?

Thanks for the update JJ, but when did Jamie McGinn become a 1LW??

I don't think McGinn solves anything in the top 6. They would have basically traded Andrew Shaw to gain cap space to sign a player similar to.... Andrew Shaw. McGinn has 91 goals in 450 career games. He would be a nice bottom six addition if he took 2M.
- Hawks_49

It is a shame we didn't play Weiss to see if we had a cheap Shaw replacement on the team. Could sign him for less and would make the loss of shaw and dannault more palatable

Hawks would be smart to contact PAP from the Leafs. Fits into their budget and can play up and down the lineup.

Nice little 'quick hits' JJ.

Appreciate you keep us in the loop with updates.

I'm really surprised there hash
t been more movement from teams. I feel like everyone is sort of waiting to see what happens with Stamkos, then the chips will start falling.

Thanks for the update JJ! IIRC they were looking at Hudler two years ago as part of a bigger trade? So it would seem their liking / interest in him has been there for a while.

Also - watched the highlight video on DeBrinkat that Enzo posted and liked it. For a smaller in height guy (he seems to carry some weight / be pretty solid) he doesn't seem to mind tight spaces like the front of the net. Also saw some pretty nice passing.

3 things jump out at me when I look at Hawks salaries and cap hits.

I love all 3 of these guys.
Hossa - $5.275M
Crawford - $6M
Brent Seabrook - $6.875M

1st, Crawford wouldn't have signed for $5M? Seabrook wouldn't have signed for the same money Keith is getting? ($5.5M). At least $6M? There's an extra ~$2M they'd have in space right now if they had. That's precious cap space, which Stan Bowman should have been thinking about. Wasn't one of the knocks on Dale Tallon that he gave his players too much? Hasn't Stan done the same?

Then there's Marian Hossa. Again, love the player, but, 37 and $5.275M cap hit. Although I wouldn't like it, and I'm not sure what it does in the end to the quality of the team. Part of this is I have to wonder, in his current state of play, if he's really not a 3rd line winger at this point. Looking at his offensive production last year, and his age. Can't pay a 3rd line winger $5.275M, and I don't think he can do it in the top 6 anymore.

I look at the Hawks roster and organizational depth, then look at yesterday's draft. I have to wonder if the Hawks are more reluctant to move on from Corey Crawford and his $6M cap hit, because of a lack of organizational depth at the position? Even if you do like Scott Darling, who's his backup going to be should you jettison Crawford? Who are the veterans out there who you'd be able to nab as insurance for Darling going down? (Reimer? Enroth? $3M?) Or, what if Darling can't handle the workload/being the main man? Move Crawford and have $12.9M in cap space. But, again, who's in the system as potential help in the future. There were some solid goalies available in the early 2nd round yesterday, and they took an iffy goalie prospect from Belgium... Who are the goalies they've drafted over the past 5 years? Mac Carruth really came on at the end of the year in Rockford, however, if he does turn out to be an answer, it's not for another 2 years or so. So, there are no immediate answers there.

Then there's Seabrook. I don't think they can trade him as the damage to the D corp would be too drastic. I just go back to my thought that SB could've maybe squeezed another $875,000 out of him, precious dollars in this era.

Is it crazy to say trading Hossa and Crawford is the way out of this cap mess? Trade those 2 and you're at $17.665 in cap space. But, then what... SB knows far better than I do.

Nice blog JJ but McGinn might be isles target, so back off....

Torn on McGinn. Hes played a lot but is only 27 so maybe he is hitting his stride. Hes really never been more than a 20 goal scorer and thats happened maybe once or twice. So maybe he blossoms like say an Adam Graves who was a fourth liner in edmonton until he was dealt to the rangers and played alongside Messier and became a 40/50 goal scorer. Id take 30 from him playing next to Tazer.

3 things jump out at me when I look at Hawks salaries and cap hits.

I love all 3 of these guys.
Hossa - $5.275M
Crawford - $6M
Brent Seabrook - $6.875M

1st, Crawford wouldn't have signed for $5M? Seabrook wouldn't have signed for the same money Keith is getting? ($5.5M). At least $6M? There's an extra ~$2M they'd have in space right now if they had. That's precious cap space, which Stan Bowman should have been thinking about. Wasn't one of the knocks on Dale Tallon that he gave his players too much? Hasn't Stan done the same?

Then there's Marian Hossa. Again, love the player, but, 37 and $5.275M cap hit. Although I wouldn't like it, and I'm not sure what it does in the end to the quality of the team. Part of this is I have to wonder, in his current state of play, if he's really not a 3rd line winger at this point. Looking at his offensive production last year, and his age. Can't pay a 3rd line winger $5.275M, and I don't think he can do it in the top 6 anymore.

I look at the Hawks roster and organizational depth, then look at yesterday's draft. I have to wonder if the Hawks are more reluctant to move on from Corey Crawford and his $6M cap hit, because of a lack of organizational depth at the position? Even if you do like Scott Darling, who's his backup going to be should you jettison Crawford? Who are the veterans out there who you'd be able to nab as insurance for Darling going down? (Reimer? Enroth? $3M?) Or, what if Darling can't handle the workload/being the main man? Move Crawford and have $12.9M in cap space. But, again, who's in the system as potential help in the future. There were some solid goalies available in the early 2nd round yesterday, and they took an iffy goalie prospect from Belgium... Who are the goalies they've drafted over the past 5 years? Mac Carruth really came on at the end of the year in Rockford, however, if he does turn out to be an answer, it's not for another 2 years or so. So, there are no immediate answers there.

Then there's Seabrook. I don't think they can trade him as the damage to the D corp would be too drastic. I just go back to my thought that SB could've maybe squeezed another $875,000 out of him, precious dollars in this era.

Is it crazy to say trading Hossa and Crawford is the way out of this cap mess? Trade those 2 and you're at $17.665 in cap space. But, then what... SB knows far better than I do.
- GoHawks1

Can't trade Hossa because of cap recapture penalties which would be catastrophic as discussed ad naseum on these boards. It's the price the HAwks have to pay (and I suspect would gladly pay again) or what he's brought to the team and city. We can cry all we want about the injustice of a legal contract suddenly becoming illegal with a new CBA, but in the end we still are where we are. So, no, trading Hossa is not a solution.

Did you see what Yandle is getting paid and the term? There is a dearth of top Dmen right now and they are commanding a high price IF you can trade for one. So would it be nice for the Seabrook contract to be at a lower AAV? Yup. But I would also like someone to give me a million dollars. Not gonna happen in this climate.

Crawford will be difficult to trade due to what the expansion draft and the inability to protect more than one goalie. Teams are trading or trying to trade some pretty talented guys - Elliott, Bishop etc all on the market at the same time because if you can't get something for them ahead of next year's expansion you risk losing them for nothing. Hawks have been for the last several weeks/months adding goalies.

Has anyone heard any news on the Vegas team name aside from the Black Knights? Wonder when a logo/colors will be introduced.

Hypothetically, the Hawks will struggle for a few years unless there's a Panarin every year somewhere to be found & given the Indian head. Now pretty sure I remember Panarin wanting to play with the Hawks to contend. If you guys can't contend, any chance Panarin decides to go somewhere else - to a contender?

If that happens or is even possible, these sacrifices being made now may be too great to recover from??

Is Panarin a sure bet to resign? What can you get for him now?

sam gagner could be a cheap take a look option

Not looking pretty for Chi town .Even with the benefit of cap circumvention it is next to impossible to keep cup contending lineup .This is why I don't give Stamkos more then 8.5

JJ from reading you I understand the value you see in Kruger and I agree. If you lose his entire cap hit how would they plan to back fill. Even if shmaltz can play right away he certainly is not a shut down guy. We have lost TT who Q did trust in defensive situations too. We instantly go back to week in the middle like always. Same if AA is the guy. If we can't move crow, and the possible list of teams seems to be shrinking if not gone how will the ever get back to a balanced roster? How much longer can we keep this shell game up?
- lunchbox2111

Answered this about a year ago. Better get used to it, because its going to continue until

A: The cap goes way up
B; Toews or Kane is moved or retire at the end of their contracts

Nothing else is going to stop it. Even when you move core guys out, another guy steps in to the core (ie. if you moved CC and reupped Panarin) you still have the same cap problem).

Also another reason you should get used to it, the Hawks are going to spend to the cap every year. Think about it. If you spend to the cap every year, to do something at the following FA period you can only take on cash if cash is moved out.

No its going to be this way for probably 7 or 8 more years, so get used to it.

I still take this for the cups

Thanks for the updates John...

As Marlowe mentioned the Hawks have kicked the tires on Hudler before - wonder what he's looking for...again you're bargain shopping here at Costco. Does Hudler allow you to move AA or Kruger? And now you're possibly creating another weakness at center. AA outside of Shaw is one of the only guys that plants in front of the net. And now we don't have Shaw. And your PK certainly won't improve w/o Krugs.

I certainly think Soupy at a low hit solidifies the defensive depth...something they sorely lacked this spring as well as a true #4...losing Oduya over 400k while resigning Rundblad is not something that you want on your resume.

Have to give Stan credit it only took him three tries to figure out trading a guy for picks at the draft causes the least damage...see Leddy and Sharp. But while Bowman can claim this team is out of the woods in regard to the cap the Panarin contract is warming up in the bullpen. So unless you're going to move more salary
get ready for a blue plate special in aisle 5 shoppers.

Crawford would be the logical choice here, but its a buyers market as we've seen with so many high priced goalies on the market.

Should be an interesting few days here as we head to free agency.

Not looking pretty for Chi town .Even with the benefit of cap circumvention it is next to impossible to keep cup contending lineup .This is why I don't give Stamkos more then 8.5
- Allforhim12

We're doomed, we'll never win again.

Kind of humorous coming from a Oil fan. You couldn't suck more than you have, now the league gifts you with like 10 straight years of #1 overalls and you might have gotten one right.

then the idiots picking in front of you this year pass on Puuliarvi(I'm sure that's spelled wrong, finnish is such a tough language), or did they? Would you have taken the Dman if Puuliarvi was gone?

Anyway, any other team that was gifted what you were would be battling for cups every year, so come here and pop off when at least when you finally make the playoffs...................and let us worry about how screwed we are

Tweet from Habs beat writer Marc Antoine Godin (and it is verified)

Source: Andrew Shaw has a 6-year offer on the table, at close to 4 million a year.