Niemi’s Salary Set At 2.75 Million, The Question Now Is Will Niemi Stay Or Will He Go?

The only question that remains regarding Antti Niemi now is will the Blackhawks keep him or let him go?

An arbitrator set Antti Niemi’s salary at 2.75 million on Saturday. Now the Blackhawks have 48 hours to decide on whether to sign him to that salary and keep him, sign him and then trade him, or decline the ruling and make Niemi an unrestricted free agent.

Niemi was reportedly seeking a number in the 3 million dollar range, some even said as much as 4 million. The Blackhawks on the other hand were hoping for a ruling in the 2 million dollar range as their cap crunch will only allow them to give that much to him.

This decision is a good sign for the Blackhawks as it is in the range they were hoping it would be in. After all the figures and numbers were crunched, if the Blackhawks wanted to take a risk and run only a 20 man roster, they could have offered Niemi 3.5 million and would keep him at least for this next year. With the ruling down 750k from that number, the Blackhawks now can sign Niemi and also run their roster at roughly 22 players.

I think this is the best possible news the Blackhawks could have gotten. It seemed like everyone was preparing for the worst and looking at all their other options in terms of goalies because they expected a ruling of well over 3 million. The Blackhawks can now keep one of the most important pieces that lead them to a Stanley Cup and can also use what little money they have left to fill out the roster so they don’t have to run the risk of only going with 20 players and an injury decimating the team.

I’d expect the Blackhawks to sign Niemi and keep him and then sign him to an extension over this upcoming season as he is just too valuable to give up.

Chicago Blackhawks sign Nick Leddy, Bryan Bickell, and Jack Skille

The Chicago Blackhawks have come to terms with defenseman Nick Leddy on a three year deal worth 2.7 million. Leddy was the 16th overall pick in the 2009 draft and was traded to the Blackhawks in February as part of the deal that sent Cam Barker to the Minnesota Wild.

The Blackhawks have also come to terms with Bryan Bickell and Jack Skille on one year deals. Skille played in only 6 games last year gaining two points while Bickell played in 16 games and had three goals and four total points.

Blackhawks Say No?

Everyone in the city of Chicago is aware of the cap problems the Blackhawks currently have, but what does this mean for Antti Niemi?

The Blackhawks and Antti Niemi are scheduled to go into an arbitration hearing on July 29th where it is expected that Niemi will get a hefty raise in salary after leading the Blackhawks to their first Stanley Cup championship in 49 years. This past season Niemi made $827,000 and at the arbitration hearing it is expected that that number jumps up into somewhere around the 3 million range. The problem with this is that the Blackhawks can’t afford to give Niemi anything more than about 2.5 million or so. If this was weeks ago the Blackhawks would have the option of trying to trade Niemi somewhere else to get something in return but with the arbitration hearing only 2 days away that’s pretty much out of the question. So at this point in time, the Blackhawks can only make one of two options. If at the arbitration hearing it is decided that Niemi should be paid somewhere around 2.5 million or less (even though that is very unlikely) chances are the Blackhawks will sign him to a deal and he will return as our starting goalie next season. If that number is over the 2.5 million or so that the Blackhawks can afford then they will have no other choice but to reject the arbitration offer and let Niemi become an unrestricted free agent free to sign with anyone he wants. Worst case scenario is that Niemi is not signed and the Blackhawks are stuck looking for a goalie in the free agent market.

So far a few names have surfaced as possible replacements if the Blackhawks have to look for a goalie besides Niemi:

Corey Crawford:

Corey Crawford has been seen for a while as the most reasonable and the most likely option to replace Niemi. When it comes to money, he would receive essentially the same amount of money that Niemi did last season so that’s a huge deal with the Blackhawks current cap problems. He was originally slated to be the backup behind Cristobal Huet but Niemi slid in and took that spot away from him so this may finally be his chance. The only issue there is with Crawford is that he doesn’t have the ability to ease into the starting goalie role like Niemi did last year. He’d have to assume the role right away with little to no room for error. The only plus with this issue is that the Blackhawks did the very same thing with Niemi last year so they know it can be done.

Marty Turco:

Marty Turco has been a guy that the Blackhawks have looked at for the past few years. He is a great puck handler that can fit quite well into the Blackhawks style of play and could rack up more than a few assists. The down side to Turco is age and money. Turco is already 34 (which happens to be older than Huet and Khabibulin when the Blackhawks signed him) and his best playing days are most likely behind him. In regards to money,he turned down a 3 year, 6 million dollar contract from the Flyers already so he is either not all that interested in playing in the NHL or he wants more money than a team is willing to pay him. So far he hasn’t really said much on any front so what’s going through his head is yet to be known.

Jose Theodore:

Theodore is in the same situation as Turco. His best playing days are behind him so that is a major downside to signing him, despite the fact that he has a 30-7 record. He also would have to be willing to take a major pay cut as he got 4.5 million last year from the Washington Capitals. He’s an option but I would consider it very unlikely that the Blackhawks make any attempt to sign him.

Vesa Toskala:

Despite the poor record he had with Toronto this past year (you can’t really blame him for that fact) he has posted a winning record every season that he has played with an overall record of 129-82. That’s quite impressive by any means but that also creates money issues. Toskala was paid 4 million last year between Toronto, Anaheim, and Calgary last year and would be another playing that would have to take a pay cut. That isn’t likely to happen and Toskala has been reported to having offers in Europe so I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up there.

Ray Emery:

Emery has a lot going in his favor. First off, he is only 27, which makes him considerably younger than most of the free agent goalies. He also has posted an 87-51 record including 18-12 in the playoffs. The bad part is that he hasn’t been healthy. He has never played more than 40 games in a season and is coming off of hip surgery so no one really knows what to expect from him. While he might be a long shot with his health in question, it’s been believe that Emery would serve better as a backup to someone like Corey Crawford than to be the starting goalie.

Aside from these guys, I personally believe that the Blackhawks should make an attempt at signing Carey Price just to take a shot at it. I mean he is slated to be the man in Montreal after they traded Jaroslav Halak but he has yet to sign a deal with them and is still a restricted free agent. It’s believed that he could go one of two ways with those contract negotiations. First is that since the Canadiens anointed him their number 1 goalie he could choose to be paid like that and that would bring with it huge expectations that he may not be able to handle right now being a young goalie at age 22. On the other hand, he could ask for around a 2 million dollar deal so he can prove himself to the Canadiens while not having that huge amount of pressure and expectations on his back. Either way the Blackhawks should take a shot at him and see what happens. He has a 2.73 GAA and has had brilliant games while also having not so great games, but he is young so there is no reason why he wouldn’t improve (he is a 1st round draft pick, number 5 to be exact). The Blackhawks have sad that they can give up to 2.5 million or so, so why not give a 2.2 million dollar offer to Price (that was his salary last season as well) and see what happens. The worst possible thing is that the Canadiens match the offer, that’s about it.

So the Blackhawks do have a few options in replacing Niemi if it comes down to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up with Crawford as the starting goalie next year just because he would be the cheapest of all the options and he has been in the organization for a few years so I think his shot is finally due. Turco sounds like the only other possibility in my eyes just because he fits the Blackhawks style of play and is a proven veteran so there is no worry about whether he can handle the pressure or not, especially with playing not only in Chicago but for the defending Stanley Cup champions. Even though it’s not likely, I would like to see the Blackhawks brass put an offer on Price because no one expects that to happen. As I said before, the worst possible thing is the Canadiens match the offer and that’s the end of that. It doesn’t hurt to try and you never know what may happen, we all saw the result when switching from Cristobal Huet to Antti Niemi so you never know.

Regardless, July 29th is going to be a big day for the Blackhawks. For so many games Antti Niemi said no to the opposing team, this time around is Niemi going to be told no by the team he helped lead to a Stanley Cup championship? We’ll all just have to wait and see

Championships Equal Fiscal Nightmares

The Blackhawks winning their first Stanley Cup in 49 years was an overwhelmingly joyous occasion for the city of Chicago, but no one took the time to see that there was a dark cloud hanging overhead, waiting to rain on our parade.

After winning the Stanley Cup, the Blackhawks were in a serious cap nightmare that needed to be addressed as quickly as possible and by any means necessary. The contract extensions given to Duncan Keith, Patrick Kane, and Jonathon Toews, along with the contract of Marian Hossa and the bonuses that will be given to Kane and Toews were major factors in pushing the Blackhawks so close to the cap they wouldn’t have been able to put together a team for next year with the money they had left. Normally increasing the amount of cap space a team has would be to move a player here and there and that would be the end of it. For the Blackhawks, it’s meant disassembling nearly half of the team that helped them win the Stanley Cup.

Here’s a recap of all the trades, signings, and players we didn’t resign as of July 27th:

• Traded away fan favorite and playoff hero Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, and Brent Sopel along with prospect Akim Aliu to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for a first and second round draft pick, Marty Reasoner, and Jeremy Morin.
• Traded Andrew Ladd to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for a second round draft pick in 2011 and Ivan Vishnevskiy
• Traded Kris Versteeg to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Viktor Stalberg, Chris DiDomenico, and Philippe Paradis
• Traded Colin Fraser to the Edmonton Oilers for a sixth round draft pick
• Traded Marty Reasoner to the Florida Panthers for Jeff Taffe
• Let Adam Burish sign  with the Dallas Stars
• Did not resign John Madden or Kim Johnsson
• Signed John Scott to a 2 year deal worth $500,000 annually
• Signed Bryan Bickell to a 3 year deal
• Signed a deal with Jack Skille
• Matched the 4 year, 14 million dollar offer made by the San Jose Sharks on Nikolas Hjalmarsson
• Close to coming to terms on a deal with Jordan Hendry
• Cristobal Huet will either be sent to the minors or play in Europe in order to create more cap space

So far 9 players from the championship team have either been traded or let go and there may be more to follow. Depending on how the arbitration hearing goes, the Blackhawks may lose Antti Niemi and bring that total to 11. There has also been talk that the Blackhawks may trade Tomas Kopecky in order to create more cap space to attempt and resign Niemi. If that takes place then the total would be 11 and if they traded Kopecky and still missed out on Niemi the total would sit at 12. Most teams carry a roster of between 20-23 players so that means the Blackhawks would have lost more than half of their roster from last year all because of a championship.

Now I know the Blackhawks don’t have more to throw around at players like the New York Yankees do in baseball or Miami did this off season in the NBA but losing half of your team or more is a bit ridiculous. The contract extensions for Kane, Toews, and Keith probably could have waited because I don’t think they want to go anywhere and after winning the Stanley Cup with Chicago, I’m sure the Blackhawks brass would have done anything to keep them.

As a fan, winning the Stanley Cup was an amazing thing to witness and be a part of along with the city of Chicago, but I think it’s safe to say that this championship came at a significant cost. The White Sox won in 2005 and in those 5 years they have gotten rid of the majority of that championship team piece by piece and they haven’t gotten past the first round once and I fear the same future is set for the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks have the players to get them into the playoffs, but without key pieces like Byfuglien, Ladd, and Versteeg, I truly believe the Blackhawks cost themselves another Stanley Cup.