Members of the Stan Bowman Fan Club might want to skip over this blog. Or perhaps, if you prefer to view the glass as half full, you might see this as an opportunity for Bowman to really save the day.
But anyone assuming there is an easy fix for the Hawks right now probably isn’t reading the tea leaves right. And making some unwise assumptions.
The fact is, the Hawks need to shed some salary cap. A lot of it.
Since the team hoisted the Cup at the United Center, the draft and the announcement of a $71.4 million cap for the upcoming season, the Hawks have actually added a small amount of salary cap commitment in the from of a new deal for David Rundblad (setting the logic of signing him aside for a moment), and not cut anything.
Anyone hearing anything about trades for Bryan Bickell or Kris Versteeg?
Crickets.
How long will the Patrick Sharp Intrigue drag on? And understand, Bowman’s negotiating position has already eroded somewhat. An NHL GM who is sympathetic to Bowman and the Hawks told a source of mine in the last couple of days essentially this:
“Stan is getting closer to where he was in 2010, where he has to take whatever he can get—salary dumps. He should have taken the best offer he could get at the draft for Sharp. But he held out for a first-round pick. And didn’t get it.…
This same sentiment has been echoed by a source within the Hawk organization.
The truth is, and I know some will steadfastly disagree with this, time is not Bowman’s ally.
Sure, he has time to get a deal done for Sharp. But as time passes, and teams make other deals, through trades or free agency starting next week, the demand for Sharp will curtail. At some point, if Bowman is left with one or two buyers, bear in mind, Sharp is not an “essential… for any team.
He’s a “nice to have.…
He’s not a 23 year old defenseman with huge upside. He’s a 33 year old wing with two years left on a big contract.
I do believe, because I heard it from multiple people who have been right before, Bowman did have multiple suitors for Sharp at the draft. And he probably still has more than one. But he will get waited out on Sharp most likely before he waits anyone else out.
Meanwhile, and Bowman really can only do so much at any given time, he has two high quality RFAs to do business with: Brandon Saad and Marcus Kruger.
All I hear (from multiple sources) is that negotiations are ongoing and amicable. A proven reliable Hawk source, who doesn’t sugarcoat, told me last night that reports of Saad and the Hawks being far apart are inaccurate.
“Negotiations are ongoing.…
All that said, I have also heard for weeks now that signing Saad this summer and Brent Seabrook before next summer, are the two big organizational priorities for the Hawks. Kruger slots in somewhere just below that in terms of priority.
The Hawks will do what’s necessary to retain those players. And that could be why you heard a couple of other bits of news yesterday: the signing of David Rundblad to a 2-year deal and that Johnny Oduya will go to free agency next week.
The Hawks are making decisions.
It’s not that Rundblad replaces oduya. Far from it. It’s that they know what Rundblad is and think, according to sources, that he has some unrealized upside (whether you or I agree with that or not). And so they signed him—like they proactively signed Scott Darling a few months back—to achieve a measure of cost-certainty, at an affordable price, for a player they believe will improve—and whose value will improve.
Hold that thought.
Affordable, long term cost certainty with a player they believe will improve and whose value will improve.
This is what they got when they signed Niklas Hjalmarsson and Duncan Keith. It’s what they are trying to achieve with Saad and Kruger.
And that comes back, possibly, to Darling. Signed for two years for less than $1 million per.
I have heard from two independent sources of conversations in the last few days between the Hawks and one specific team about Crawford. I was told they are “highly confidential.… And one of the sources said a cheaper (short-term), veteran NHL netminder would have to come back to Chicago in the deal.
Sure, you have cost certainty with Crawford. But not necessarily the highly affordable cost-certainty you do with Darling.
Crawford will likely never be worth more than he is today. Darling likely will be, as he gains more NHL experience. For $5 million+ per year less over the next two years minimum.
So if you buy the theory of the Hawks’ pursuing affordable, long term cost-certainty on younger players with upside, then you can connect some dots.
And here’s where, if some or most or all this is true, you have to give Bowman some credit. He’s in a tough spot, but he’s being creative and undiscriminating in how he solves it: holding on to his diamonds, willing to (possibly) deal less “perfect… (in terms of ability and contract) assets.
It could be a very interesting summer. I’ll have more as I hear it.
JJ
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