Less what they’re gonna need to hang on to DeBrincat and Strome.
- StLBravesFan

Both those 2 have another year in their contract and will be RFA'S then, not UFA

The Hawks should give them each 3yr bridge deals and not overpay. When those bridge deals are up, they will be 25/26 and the big contracts will be expiring. If Cat/Strome are worth it, they can get the big deals then

If they want 7-8mil out of their rookie deal - let someone else sign them and take the compensation

This is just a hypothetical and way out of left field and for discussion sake.
Hawks TRADE the 3rd overall pick Perlini gust and 5th to Vegas for their 1st and 3rd Cody glass cody eakin mcnabb and tuch. Eakin salary dump hawks get 3rd line center top 6 pfw top 4 d man and center prospect vegas gets out of cap hell and gets a future stud player while the hawks assets for win now and for the future plus if the goalie knight drops to slot where vegas would be picking. Its a maybe but could happen. Thoughts? Doubt vegas doesn't but makes some sense on the hawks side IMO.
- Scott1977

I like your creativity but I (like you) doubt Vegas would bite. Glass is their top prospect, they’ll need him to play next season. Getting somebody like Tuch or McNabb would likely be done for mid-round picks and prospects.

You know it's going to be a long offseason on hockey message boards when it's only early May and you're arguing about Don Cherry.
- EbonyRaptor

Man, the assault on Bishop this afternoon was brutal. I get the discretion of the official, but Bishop went down like a sack of mashed potatoes. If that was Mike Smith flopping, I could see the official hesitating to blow the play dead, but I never thought Bishop had that reputation. Then, the Blues intentionally went head hunting on the next shot. Hope he is okay. Poor TVR is out 4-6 months with his shoulder injury and surgery. All this heavy stuff is taking its toll.

Both those 2 have another year in their contract and will be RFA'S then, not UFA

The Hawks should give them each 3yr bridge deals and not overpay. When those bridge deals are up, they will be 25/26 and the big contracts will be expiring. If Cat/Strome are worth it, they can get the big deals then

If they want 7-8mil out of their rookie deal - let someone else sign them and take the compensation
- PatShart

I think he knows that and meant the whole $20M shouldn't be spent this off season because some of that will need to be squirreled away for the following summer when Cat, Strome and others will be getting raises.

Also - where does the $20M figure come from? I thought it was $15M-$17M and that may have been before the comment about the Cap not rising as much as originally estimated.

Man, the assault on Bishop this afternoon was brutal. I get the discretion of the official, but Bishop went down like a sack of mashed potatoes. If that was Mike Smith flopping, I could see the official hesitating to blow the play dead, but I never thought Bishop had that reputation. Then, the Blues intentionally went head hunting on the next shot. Hope he is okay. Poor TVR is out 4-6 months with his shoulder injury and surgery. All this heavy stuff is taking its toll.
- Googlyeyes

That's a good one.

I think he knows that and meant the whole $20M shouldn't be spent this off season because some of that will need to be squirreled away for the following summer when Cat, Strome and others will be getting raises.

Also - where does the $20M figure come from? I thought it was $15M-$17M and that may have been before the comment about the Cap not rising as much as originally estimated.
- EbonyRaptor

For 19/20 Capfriendly shows the Hawks with $18.8M in cap space with the cap still at the 79.5 limit. If the cap goes up the reported 3.5M, they'll have $22.3M available.

That's with 15 players on the roster and does not include Delia and Joki who are signed next year but finished the year in Rockford. Assuming they will be on the team leaves about $20.4M.

For 19/20 Capfriendly shows the Hawks with $18.8M in cap space with the cap still at the 79.5 limit. If the cap goes up the reported 3.5M, they'll have $22.3M available.

That's with 15 players on the roster and does not include Delia and Joki who are signed next year but finished the year in Rockford. Assuming they will be on the team leaves about $20.4M.
- boilermaker100

[
Scott 1977 has the right idea but very unlikely a trade expanded to include as many variables on both sides. There is no need for Vegas paring to include Tuch or Glass. They will find a way to finagle and keep both of those assets.b]

What Chicago has an opportunity to do, is trade down #3 to #5 if Kakko is gone. They should still get an ornery but skill forward whom can skate. Maybe even the forward they covet most. What Bowman could do is sweeten the pot and try to either one (u likely two) addotional first round picks or a 4thdman. But do not go lower than 5tth overall.

I would be involved in obtaining only one 4dman with extra cap space available. If there is a second player, then it is a bad contract which is an opportunity cost. It comes with an opportunity to uo4grade the quality of 4th dman and or draft choices

I look at rationale behind it all below

Transactuins could get tricky. That is a lot of cap space and secretly Bowman should consixer most how competitive next season after the trades

There are two chips in play and you coyld argue either for or against using them. One outcome would be to improve either the quality of the next draft choice (earliest choice) which is to say aftwr #5 or the quality of a 4dman. I already give Bownan an angke in moving from #3 to #5

If not the Kings at #5 i sure do not want to go lower than #6

You have Gus and extra salary read: a bad salary you could take on

What is your objective with the final outcome - after all trades - because you may want to see how Gus develops in Colliton's system. I do not believe Gus had reached his highest value. Stay healthy and he could garner even more points. Adding more good players aroind him - and elevating to first unit pp - drop Keith to second unit or even no pp. You may not agree, but i think that Gus can become a better consistent dman with more solid plays offensuveky and defensively. Sure he is probably going to be prone to bonehead plays or lackadaisical moments. But he is playing for a contract.

So there is that - retaining Gus. In the final moves on the blueline is your objective Gus plus a 4dman or minus Gus but add the 4dman.

Because salary cap space plays a roll - precisely speaking it can play a smaller or larger role.

Not going to obssess how competitive you could max out at? Then commit to a bad salary but use some of that salary cap room on a 4dman.

Where do you want to try to draft whomever next. Stan likes to gamble. Either drafting a goaltender, if Pod falls enough, or maybe another fiesty forward. Any of thisr witu a second #1. Exactly what skillset, checking more a passing or scorer because another forward figures to be good enough to.eventually be on line one or two.

You have a difficult time developing each of the dman prospects and giving them a descent nhl pairing if you draft another dman. Besides the extra dman might force you to trade a good dnan prosoect below his value due to the numbers game

You do not want to finish the wheeling and dealing with a only a slightly better defenseman than Gus. How possible is that. Has to be a reliable guy even if not quite much contribion to offense. By trading Gus plus taking on a bad salary, do we acquire a both how much an upgrade over Gus and how soon until we draft with another first. High enough or esrly enougj to select a goaltender?

So i am not listing specific trades. Just giving some angles on a myriad of possibilities

For 19/20 Capfriendly shows the Hawks with $18.8M in cap space with the cap still at the 79.5 limit. If the cap goes up the reported 3.5M, they'll have $22.3M available.

That's with 15 players on the roster and does not include Delia and Joki who are signed next year but finished the year in Rockford. Assuming they will be on the team leaves about $20.4M.
- boilermaker100

And of that $20M you have to ensure there is sufficient cap room set aside to sign Strome and ADB. And if ADB should have another great season, or put up even better scoring numbers, he will command a pretty high salary. And with Strome on ADB's line there is a very good chance that Strome's point totals could be very high as well.

Both those 2 have another year in their contract and will be RFA'S then, not UFA

The Hawks should give them each 3yr bridge deals and not overpay. When those bridge deals are up, they will be 25/26 and the big contracts will be expiring. If Cat/Strome are worth it, they can get the big deals then

If they want 7-8mil out of their rookie deal - let someone else sign them and take the compensation
- PatShart

That’s not the way things are going for star players still under RFA control. They may be accepting limited term, but not limited dollars.

And to lose DeBrincat for compensation at $8MM (a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, I think) would not be a good move - or one that this front office would accept (not that it would ever get to an offer sheet).

Maybe Strome gets a bridge - still probably at $5MM plus - but I’m guessing DeBrincat will resign for 7MM plus.

And of that $20M you have to ensure there is sufficient cap room set aside to sign Strome and ADB. And if ADB should have another great season, or put up even better scoring numbers, he will command a pretty high salary. And with Strome on ADB's line there is a very good chance that Strome's point totals could be very high as well.
- paulr

I would expect Stan to lock them up after July 1st of this year . By doing so he will set himself up better knowing what the salary is at for the 2020 season. If you can get them to ink a deal this summer than you will likely get them a bit cheaper than waiting until the summer of 2020.

And of that $20M you have to ensure there is sufficient cap room set aside to sign Strome and ADB. And if ADB should have another great season, or put up even better scoring numbers, he will command a pretty high salary. And with Strome on ADB's line there is a very good chance that Strome's point totals could be very high as well.
- paulr

Let’s take a closer look at the Hawks roster and cap numbers for the next two seasons. Per Capfriendly Hawks have 15 players on the roster for next year, and assuming the cap goes up 3.5 million, they will have a bit over $22M in cap space. Let’s assume they resign their RFA’s Perlini, Kampf, Sikura, Forsling/Koekkoek, sign Kabulik, bring up Joki and use Delia as a backup. Those 7 players bring the roster to 22 and cost say a generous $8M, leaving $14M in cap space. There is still one roster spot available.

Now, do we want basically the same defense corps next year as this past season? Probably not. So, let’s say we sign a Chiarot type for $3M, replacing a Forsling/Koekkoek, adding a net of $2M to the cap, leaving $12M in cap space going forward. If we sign a Tanev type for $3M to become the 23rd player, $9M of cap space will be available. (Maybe about $3M go for a veteran backup goalie for 1 year as insurance for Crawford’s health?)

Let’s go to the 20/21 season and assume the cap goes up another $4M giving the Hawks $13M in cap space. The 8 players, excluding the possible backup goalie, signed above will be on the roster for that season, so add them to the capfriendly 20/21 roster gives them 16 players. We all know that Debrincat, Strome, Kahun, and Caggiula are RFA’s. Say we sign them for around 7.5, 5, 2.5, and 2M = $17M. 20 players total. Assuming we draft a forward this summer with the #3 pick and bringing him up or an Enwistle/Hagen will fill the 21nd spot replacing Hayden at basically a cap wash.

So, in 20/21, Hawks will add $17M to the roster, have to replace/resign Crawford and Gus and will be $4M above the cap. Replacing Cro with a prospect will cost about $1M and do you go with 2 of 3 of Delia/Forsberg/Lankinen in goal? Resign Gus for $4 or 5M or replace with a prospect on an ELC?

At a minimum the Cro and Gus replacements will cost about $2M meaning the Hawks have to shed $6M by next summer. If you resign Gus and obtain a veteran goalie backup at $3M, their cost would be $7-8M meaning the Hawks have to shed $11-12M. Moving Saad or Anisimov frees up some money but they have to be replaced.

Of course, lots of variables above, but it’s a starting point for discussion. Maybe Cat, Strome, et al sign for less than $17M. Maybe the 20/21 cap goes up more or less. To me the Hawks have the cap space this summer, but 20/21 will be tight.

New blog up: https://www.hockeybuzz.co...-Around-the-NHL/253/99336