Chicago Blackhawks: A Look at Free Agency

Fresh off of their Stanley Cup victory as well as the 2010 NHL Draft, the Blackhawks now face the free agency period which beings on July 1st.  The Blackhawks have several players that are both restricted and unrestricted free agents this off-season, and some of them will be kept while others are let go to make room for other players salaries or other players.

Let's see what the future holds for the Blackhawks restricted and unrestricted free agents.

John Madden is an unrestricted free agent this season that will probably not be back with the team. His age, coupled with an assured high salary demand will most likely send him packing to another location in the NHL.

Adam Burish, another unrestricted free agent for the Hawks, has not received an offer yet from the team and may be headed on his way out of Chicago as well. Burish quietly played pretty well last season and may still figure into the Blackhawks plans, but if he hasn’t received an offer (and there is no rumor or indication that he will) then he may be playing somewhere else next season.

Nick Boynton, a defenseman, will probably not be back; but Kim Johnsson, despite the fact he is 34 (three years older than Boynton) may end up getting an offer from the Blackhawks just prior to free agency. 

The Hawks have some defensemen that are restricted free agents, so let’s see what they decide to do with those guys before making any inferences on their future.

As far as restricted free agents go, at the time this article was written, the Blackhawks had extended offers to goalie Antti Niemi, defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson, and left winger Andrew Ladd.  So far, nothing more has been said about these offers and at the time of this writing, no one has accepted any offer.

Getting Niemi back would be big for the Blackhawks because of the way that he played during the playoffs and with how much money they have tied up in Cristobal Huet.  Niemi is definitely worth keeping on the team for the future so their offer should have been a good one.

Hjalmarsson and Ladd are also two players that the Blackhawks appear not ready to let go.  Hjalmarsson is a pretty decent defenseman who showed his value in the Stanley Cup Finals while Ladd works very well at the right wing position.  It would be tough for the Blackhawks to replace these guys if they left, but it could be done.

There is one more restricted agent for the Blackhawks and that guy is defenseman Jordan Hendry.  Hendry hasn’t been given an offer, so unless the Hawks do something in the next few days, he may not be coming back to Chicago.

Is there a chance that the Blackhawks may look at other free agents during this period?  That is always possible, but with the current status of the team and their salary cap it’s not likely.  Though they can barely keep some of the guys that they have right now, they will need to retain as many players from their Stanley Cup Winning team as they can in order to win another one next season.