In Stan We (should) Trust

    Change was coming. It was unavoidable. As the champagne dried off the Cup and the confetti was picked up on Michigan Ave, the sad reality of the salary cap loomed on the horizon for the Blackhawks organization and fans.

    The Hawks had barely half their roster under contract for next season, and were already over the salary cap. Major maneuvering was in store for the organization.

    After the Hawks hoisted the Cup, many people around the NHL went on record saying they were glad they weren’t in Stan Bowman’s shoes, due to the immense task awaiting him this off-season. They may not want to be him, but they would kill to have his front-office savvy. We are fortunate to have him on our side.

    Backed into a fiery corner of salary cap hell, Bowman pulled the trigger on the first of the Hawks’ off-season deals. Unpopular as it may have been, it was all the more necessary. Unloading Byfuglien, Sopel, and Eager allowed the Hawks to rid themselves of more than 5 million on the cap and also brought them a replacement for John Madden; another salary cap casualty.

    The three newest Thrashers were all valuable pieces to the Hawks first title in 49 years, but their celebrity outweighed their on-ice skill.

    Byfuglien was a fan favorite and burst onto the scene this post-season, but only posted a measly 34 points in the regular season while also having the worst plus-minus on the team in the regular season and post-season. His physical presence will be missed, but you can’t be paying a guy 3 million plus this day & age to have him give effort every other night.

    Big Buff’s value will never again be as high as it was at the time of the trade. Bowman capitalized on this, maxing out what the Hawks would get in return for him. Jeremy Morin was one of the minor’s leading goal scores last season; he will be an impact guy for the Hawks not too far down the line.     

    All the off-season maneuvering is allowing the Hawks, the league’s youngest team, to replenish its farm system. In addition to Morin, the Hawks had five of the first 60 picks in the NHL draft. These players will join the list of up and coming prospects that already includes the likes of Kyle Beach, Shawn Lalonde, Nick Leddy and Jack Skille.

    Clearing 5 million off the cap will allow the Hawks to retain more of their own. Kris Versteeg and Patrick Sharp should be off the trade block now, and Bowman has given himself flexibility to re-sign RFA’s Niklas Hjalmersson and Antii Niemi with relative ease.

    Remember in the fall when it would take a miracle for the Hawks to be able to re-sign Kane, Keith, and Toews and that doing so would allow everyone to live with whatever off-season moves were made, since the core is intact? Oh how quickly one can forget. Bowman locked them up for a long time, better them than Byfuglien.

    There remain moves to be made, and I have full confidence in Bowman to put the Hawks in the best possible position to repeat next spring. He has done nothing to suggest otherwise, after all it was former GM Dale Tallon’s questionable signings that placed the Hawks in this dilemma in the first place.

    Bowman knows what he is doing, trust in him and you will see the beauty of his plan in the fall.