The Chicago Blackhawks won another Stanley Cup, their third in six years, and it turns out that championships are expensive. Before the players could even get their champagne-soaked clothes to the dry cleaners, the team started making moves as part of a massive roster purge to get underneath the salary cap.
It’s a good problem to have, of course. You’d rather have to shed salary after a win than have to clear bad contracts that ultimately didn’t help you reach your goal. The large extensions handed to Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews last summer had a lot to do with the purge as each will combine to make $21 million against the cap starting this season. However, general manager Stan Bowman has proven year after year that he can build effectively around his core players. It doesn’t make the departures any less painful, but it does give him the benefit of the doubt heading into the 2015-16 season.
The one difference this year as opposed to the previous two titles, the Blackhawks actually had to start shedding players from their Stanley Cup core. Veteran sniper Patrick Sharp was shipped to the Dallas Stars after winning his third Cup and Brandon Saad, who appeared to establish himself as a core-like player despite his youth, was shockingly dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Others less tied to the core like Brad Richards and Johnny Oduya headed for bigger paydays in free agency.
So now it’s up to a new group to continue the higher standard this franchise has held itself to. Meanwhile, as all of the new players are getting acclimated, there is one big item looming over the team’s head.
The ongoing investigation into allegations of rape against Kane has taken shocking twists and turns over the last two months. The star forward remains in camp and this case could soon reach a resolution of some type, but what happens next is anyone’s guess. The investigation still could head to a grand jury, but there is no date set for that. There’s also the chance that the district attorney drops the case, clearing Kane who has maintained his innocence. It may be a distraction for the team, but the seriousness of the allegations supersedes what it means from a hockey perspective. The legal process will have to continue to play out however it will.
The Blackhawks, however, still have to try to put together a competitive team in the NHL’s toughest division, with a roster that at least on paper doesn’t look as good as the one it had last year. Even with that in mind, the core players like Toews, Kane, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson are still going to keep this team in the Stanley Cup conversation.
2015-16 at a glance
New arrivals: Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Trevor Daley, Ryan Garbutt, Artemi Panarin, Viktor Tikhonov, Erik Gustafsson
Key losses: Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad, Johnny Oduya, Brad Richards, Antoine Vermette, Kimmo Timonen, Kris Versteeg, Antti Raanta, Joakim Nordstrom
Top returning scorers: Jonathan Toews (81 GP, 28-38—66), Patrick Kane (61 GP, 27-37—64), Marian Hossa (82 GP, 22-39—61)
Total salary against cap: $71,080,960
Salary cap space remaining: $319,040
Biggest question heading into the season: Will Chicago’s lack of cap space hamper them all season?
So the outcome of the Patrick Kane investigation is obviously the biggest question the Blackhawks have going into the season, but we’ve spent the better part of two months writing about and opining on that topic. So, instead of covering old ground, one of the key storylines going into this season for the Blackhawks is that even after all the moves they made this summer, they’re still in salary cap hell.
The team is going to be able to put Michal Rozsival, who was just re-signed, onto long-term injured reserve as he is still recovering from the broken leg he suffered last postseason. That helps a little, but the Blackhawks still have some maneuvering they can do based on the players remaining in camp, but there’s going to be such little wiggle room.
The salary cap situation will affect decisions all year long. They’ll even have to be careful about who they call up over the course of the year. It also is going to make it more difficult to make additions at the trade deadline if the team needs some fortifying ahead of the postseason like it did last year.
Bowman has done the salary cap dance pretty well in the past, but how this current cap situation impacts roster decisions will be very interesting to watch over the marathon that is the regular season.
Season outlook: The Blackhawks are still very good, even after the offseason purge. They probably ended up getting rid of more than they were expecting to heading into last season as the salary cap didn't rise as much as previously thought.
The forward group is going to have a lot of new faces. Artem Anisimov is expected to be the team’s No. 2 center after coming over from the Blue Jackets in the Brandon Saad trade. Marko Dano, also part of that deal and an extremely promising 20-year-old winger, very well could be taking Saad’s place on Chicago’s top line alongside Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa.
The team also signed a pair of Russians out of the KHL. Artemi Panarin is a highly-skilled 23-year-old, who offers another young, highly-skilled forward to a mix that already includes Teuvo Teravainen, who had a breakout performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Viktor Tikhonov, the other KHL signing, should help provide depth if he makes the team.
Aside from another depth forward in Ryan Garbutt (part of the Sharp return), the rest of the cast should be familiar. The top six will remain as dangerous as any in the league with Toews, Hossa and Kane spread out.
Defensively there will be some questions about depth. Obviously, the team is set at the top with Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. Niklas Hjalmarsson is about as good a No. 3 as you’ll find in the league in terms of shut-down capabilities. New addition Trevor Daley should bring some offense and could be better protected defensively in the Blackhawks’ lineup than he was in Dallas. Meanwhile, Trevor van Riemsdyk and David Rundblad offer the Blackhawks a young bottom pairing that will probably be utilized carefully, if that’s what they decide to go with.
The top four is going to get taxed all year long. They were great with big minutes in the playoffs, but you have to wonder how much they’re going to have to be able to handle over a full season.
Corey Crawford had a really strong season in 2014-15 and will be backed up by the very capable Scott Darling, who saw some time in the playoffs last year even. That’s a solid tandem that should help take some of the pressure off the defense.
On paper, there’s no doubt the Blackhawks can compete and contend for another Cup, but there’s a reason no team has repeated as champions since the 1997 and 1998 Detroit Red Wings (and it’s not just the salary cap).
Don’t be surprised if they struggle a bit in the regular season as they did last year at various points. There are a few more holes in the lineup than they’re used to and having to keep pace in the tough Central would be challenging for any team. They'll still be a playoff team, though, and probably a tough out for whoever they get in the postseason.
Salary figures from generalfanager.com.
