Chicago Blackhawks: Is Life Without Kris Versteeg Such a Bad Idea?

The Chicago Blackhawks had an amazing resurrection season in 2008-09, as the youngest team in the league jumped from a joke roster praying for teenagers to lead, to the Western Conference Finals.

Then came this summer's free agents, and the announcement that, just hours after the market opened, Marian Hossa was coming to town.

There's no way something, or someone, could rain on this parade...

Just before the 4th of July, a news release came out that the Blackhawks may have screwed up when filing their paperwork with their seven restricted free agents; apparently none of the players, or their agents, received their letters on time.

In what must have been a hectic holiday weekend, the Hawks fought to clear the air and prove that they had simply made a dumb mistake; General Manager Dale Tallon forgot a national holiday in Canada that delayed the delivery of these crucial parcels.

When the NHL offices investigated the matter, they didn't feel that the Hawks were in error. They passed the file, and their findings, to the players' association.

The NHLPA, however, felt differently about the matter. If the weekend was hectic at the Hawks offices, then Monday was hell. As the NHLPA was filing a formal grievance on behalf of the seven players, the Hawks were trying to keep them all happy with contracts to kill the issue.

On Monday afternoon, the Blackhawks announced that Troy Brouwer, Cory Crawford, Colin Fraser, Ben Eager and Aaron Johnson had agreed to new contracts.

A couple hours later, the NHLPA filed their grievance.

A couple hours after that, the Hawks announced that they had agreed to a new deal with Cam Barker.

For those counting out there, that's a healthy list of six players with fresh ink. There were seven players involved in the issue. The seventh is Calder Trophy Finalist Kris Versteeg, and he's still looking for a pen.

The longer this situation drags, the larger the dollar amount seems to be that Versteeg will receive from the Blackhawks. His agent told ESPN on Tuesday that the two camps are still involved in negotiations, and that Versteeg wants to stay in Chicago.

But the reality is that there are a lot of teams that would give their GM's left leg for a 23-year old who is coming off a rookie season that saw him score 53 regular season points and 12 in the playoffs.

If Versteeg hits the open market, he's got a lot of money coming to him.

Versteeg knows it. So does his agent. So does Tallon. This kid's got the goods, and could be a very, very popular dinner date for 20 general managers this weekend.

Which is why the amount of time it's taking for a deal to happen is becoming increasingly intriguing.

A deeper look at the Blackhawks roster shows the team has a salary cap committment of roughly $51.8 million for 20 players this coming season. This figure is not including Johnson, who's contract dollars haven't been announced, and a second goaltender's contract included because of a pending competition between Crawford and Antti Niemi.

The salary cap in 2009-10 will be $56.8 million, meaning that the Hawks likely have only $4 million in wiggle room with which to sign Versteeg and look for depth on the blue line.

Tallon has been pretty open about his desire to add a bigger body on defense somehow this offseason. Based on some of the contracts signed this offseason, the Hawks will be lucky to keep Versteeg for the $4 million they have left. That means they'll be looking for a defender from within the organization.

The problem with that situation is that the Hawks don't have a ton of organizational depth on the blue line.

What they do have is a TON of young, skilled forwards ready for a shot at the big time. As the roster stands now, the Hawks have 13 fowards under contract without Versteeg. If Versteeg left, the team could still have players on a fourth line that made strong contributions last year, like Fraser, Eager, Dustin Byfuglien and Adam Burish.

However, right now the Hawks have eight defenders under contract. What's scary for fans, and likely Tallon, is that two of those eight are inexperienced Jordan Hendry and ancient and ineffective Brent Sopel.

What is obvious is that the Hawks are a young, talented team that has aspirations of winning a championship soon. Even with Sopel and Cristobal Huet checking their AARP cards at the locker room door, the team will still have an average age of 26.5 for the coming season.

So would losing Versteeg be such a big deal?

The financial reality for the Blackhawks is that keeping Versteeg might be as counterproductive as it would be good for the young roster. If the Hawks bring him back, there's a strong chance that a veteran like Patrick Sharp could be on the trading block soon.

Sharp, 27, scored 44 points in 61 games last year and has a cap number of $3.9 million. He was looked to for veteran leadership as much as scoring over the past couple seasons, and losing both Sharp and Martin Havlat might not sit well with the young core.

The other factor to consider is the number of stud prospects the Hawks have that could replace Versteeg on the roster.

Reports coming from this week's prospect camp in Chicago are that 19-year-old Kyle Beach has been spectacular. At around six-foot-two and over 200 pounds, Beach's physical play and ability to tickle the net won't keep him out of Chicago for long, and his low base salary might make him a personal favorite of Tallon.

Between the experienced players like Fraser, Brouwer and Burish fighting for playing time and younger studs like Beach and Jack Skille looking to make the jump to the United Center, the Hawks might be having serious internal discussions surrounding the pro's and con's of keeping Versteeg.

The Hawks still have some moves they could make to clear a little room under the cap, like the long-rumored waiving of Sopel. But to add a quality player on the blue line, the Hawks would likely need to move a player off their roster.

If it's Versteeg or Sharp, that's a tough decision. The Hawks have a fantastic roster, but there are a couple moves left to be made. Versteeg leaving might become one of them.