Is Martin Havlat's Departure from the Blackhawks a Necessary One?

Going into the offseason, the major priority of the Chicago Blackhawks was to re-sign dynamic forward Martin Havlat.

But, as the free-agency deadline continues to get closer, the likelihood of re-signing Havlat continues to diminish.

But in all reality, would letting Martin Havlat go be such a bad thing?

In my opinion, no.

Let me explain before I am stoned to death by my fellow Blackhawks fans.

What we as fans must realize is that there are going to be sacrifices made on the way to developing a perennial playoff contender, and in all fairness Martin Havlat could be our first sacrifice.

When you first look at the Blackhawks' cap situation this offseason, you see that the 'Hawks have a little over $22 million in cap space.

But, before you get all excited, let me break down where that cap needs to go already.

The Blackhawks have nine restricted free agents, including unsung playoff hero Dave Bolland, Calder-finalist Kris Versteeg, power play point man Cam Barker, and agitator Ben Eager. Versteeg and Bolland should both expect to get pretty big pay raises—probably a million-plus in raises for the both of them.

Cam Barker should also expect to get in the $2 million range, so those three players should get about $6-7 million off of the cap, leaving us with about $15 million in cap room.

The other players that will likely get $1 million-plus in cap hit are AHL goaltenders Corey Crawford and Antti Niemi. Niemi made $1.5 million last season and Crawford made $660,000 last season.

Even if neither player gets any type of raise, they are still taking up $2 million from your cap, resulting in $13 million in cap room.

Add Ben Eager and Colin Fraser to the equation and you have about $11 million in cap room for this season.

So, why not sign Martin Havlat to a long term deal with a cap hit of $4.5 million?

Well, I'll tell you.

You need to look into the future, which Dale Tallon did not do when he signed Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet last season.

In the 2010 offseason, the Blackhawks will have three star-players (Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Duncan Keith) who will be restricted free agents, and two other role players (Andrew Ladd and Niklas Hjalmarsson) who will also be free agents.

Each of the Blackhawks' star players will require at least $3 million per season and probably more. In the 2010 offseason, the 'Hawks will not have any salary coming off of the books, which also needs to be taken into account this offseason.

Yes, when Martin Havlat was healthy he made the Blackhawks a far better team.

We, as an organization, need to make a decision.

Do we go for it all this coming season and blow all of our cap for the future, or do we conserve this offseason and build for a consistent future?

Really, the only way that I could see Martin Havlat staying is if Brian Campbell is moved for a less expensive player.

Another plus to letting Martin Havlat walk is that we can inject another young player, such as Kyle Beach, Igor Makarov, or Jack Skille, into the lineup to develop.

But, as big of a Martin Havlat fan as I am, I really think it is in the best interest of the team to let him walk away and take the big money elsewhere.