The term on on Johnson’s contract is just too much to take on.

I expect the Hawks to remain quiet for the rest of the off-season, they’ll re-sign Strome to a bridge deal and that’s about it.

Once the season starts they’ll put Smith on LTIR and create cap space to make some moves.

The Hawks will want to give Suter a chance, I think they’ll need to make space in the top 9. I think Saad is gone, and he’ll bring back a decent return.
- DarthKane

Saad to Calgary for Bennet and a pick and glorious cap space .They will need it once Seebs comes off IR

I thin k I am changing my mind on my lukewarm accessment of Lukas Reichel

He will get stronger maybe even taller.

Smart Skilled hockey IQ three positions

You cannot teach a lot of what he does. The rest HAS to develop, and maybe it does!

German left winger who finds open ice with his above average speed and agility in tight spaces. Has set-up skills and likes to shoot. Has a really quick release, Hasn’t established his 200 foot game and needs to add some physicality. He does apply back pressure Displays high end straight line speed who is dangerous around the net, and needs little time to get to full flight. Has a hard quick wrist shot and agility. Slows the game down and doesn't show panic when under pressure. He just continues on the his best options. Has an active stick, lateral quickness, first step quickness and quick head. His recognition skills are really superior and that sees him being the first one to so many loose pucks. Has a 90 degree knee bend, and his knee over knee cross overs allow him flying past players in three sides. Gets knocked off some pucks, but when he add weight, he will be even stronger on the puck. Always in the mix of traffic. He isn't deterred by contact, he re-sets and goes to work in the offensive end.The bloodline is there, as his uncle Robert played over 800 NHL games. Has transended from a still in development junior player to one who easily stands as an equal or better with the players around in the German DEL Usually sets up on the right half wall of the power play. Although he is very thin and needs to thicken up, he is able to absorb hits and stay vertical. Keeps his feet moving is able to get to loose pucks and rebounds and gets his scoring chances. Has played all three forward positions in the German pro league. He is very young and hasn't taken the steps that verify he can drive play and be an impact addition, but he display high hockey IQ and runs with it with quick decisions. Young, raw and still in the formative stage. A long strider who will add a set whne his lower body gains strength.

Lukas Reichel:
#23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHVztnMXLsk

at 5:00 he throw the biscuit blindly to the Czechs and they score...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM3lD7C7aSc
Reichel will be #44 on some footage along with 23 in others...this is not some short clip...get a snack and a beverage and sit down and watch it...I love this French kid who does these...we tried to get him at DraftSite...

Saad to Calgary for Bennet and a pick and glorious cap space .They will need it once Seebs comes off IR
- oldduffman

I’d rather send Saad to Colorado for Jost or Kaut, the return is better and Saad has a legit shot to win the Cup again.

The Avs have the cap space, but if the deal is made after the season starts and Smith goes on LTIR they can retain salary if needed too.

We'll trade Smith for Johnson. TB can clear space by putting Smith on LTIR.
- tvetter

No thanks 30 years old 4 more years at 5M

I’d rather send Saad to Colorado for Jost or Kaut, the return is better and Saad has a legit shot to win the Cup again.

The Avs have the cap space, but if the deal is made after the season starts and Smith goes on LTIR they can retain salary if needed too.
- DarthKane

I WISH they were trading Jost. I thin k he was really rushed and that is whey you have what you see now, in terms of his development.

Not sure Ans want the Saad deal if the can get Taylor Hall for the same change...

Exactly, not paying an old goalie $4.5 and also give up assets. The only way I would take Kuemper is for a 5th and they retain at least 30%, AZ does not like that, then oh well, move on. Why are we giving up Beaudin, he was a 1st round pick, albeit a late first round pick, but he has upside to be a steady Dman, that can make that first pass, does not seem to panic. Yes Boqvist, Carlsson and Mitchell are getting all the accolades, but I’m looking forward to Beaudin being a Blackhawk, I like what I’ve read and I didn’t notice him in the one game that he played. Just for comparison I did notice when Gilbert played, like starting a fight in a close game for no reason whatsoever.
- Angotti

If I'm trading Beaudin it's for young offense with size and more of a sure thing than Nylander. I don't have to trade him.

Just not sure how much improvement until he becomes much noticeably stronger. Stronger hopefully equates with increase in confidence. How long until he is stronger. It has to be natural enough add in strength so his skill is not affected. See DeBrincat whom compromised his skill by bulking up too much per his body capacity ....he surely didn't loose ability ....he merely blocked the skillet. For DeBrincat i surmise he can return to his 40 goal form once he gets his body right

Maybe therefore depending upon Boqvist body type he needs to gradually add strength. Is he a big boned you know like broad shoulder kid. It may be asking too much for Boqvist to add considerable strength soon and possibly long term as well.

When recently reportedly some in Blackhawk organization said to sour on Boqvist. If there is any shred of creditibility perhaps it is about Boqvist able to get much stronger and retain his skill set. Emphasize here i am just digging on a subject that may not have any truth to it.
- jhawk59

I totally agree exactly what I meant I didn't say it as well as you. Bottom line, it won't come in one offseason.

I WISH they were trading Jost. I thin k he was really rushed and that is whey you have what you see now, in terms of his development.

Not sure Ans want the Saad deal if the can get Taylor Hall for the same change...
- wiz1901

Fair, but once Hall finally lands somewhere the teams that missed out will look to Saad as Plan B. If the Avs miss on Hall then Saad would be a great fit.

You can’t compare Saad to Toffoli. Saad has size, speed, plays a two way game, scores over 20 goals and is one of the top penalty killers in the NHL. In this current cap situation, you could be right about him not getting us a first rounder, but under normal cap circumstances, yes Saad would net you a first rounder.
- Angotti

If I was Stan I would try to extend him at 4x$5m. If he says no time to move on.

Smith returns to the Oilers, 1 year @ $2 million.

The term on on Johnson’s contract is just too much to take on.

I expect the Hawks to remain quiet for the rest of the off-season, they’ll re-sign Strome to a bridge deal and that’s about it.

Once the season starts they’ll put Smith on LTIR and create cap space to make some moves.

The Hawks will want to give Suter a chance, I think they’ll need to make space in the top 9. I think Saad is gone, and he’ll bring back a decent return.
- DarthKane

That only works if we are really close to the cap. What do you think they’ll do to get us closer to the max cap?

I don't think you're gonna get a first round pick + for a 40 point winger. Look at what Tyler Toffoli was traded for. i know Toffoli isn't a good two way winger
- GPHawksfan

Probably correct. What we do feel better about is the return price at trade deadline. Even then just ask if Saad would be a rental as he could be left unprotected for The Expansion Draft. Could try making trade renumeration conditional like this: lower round pick if he is claimed in The Expansion Draft. Higher selection if he goes unclaimed. Who knows what other players made available for the draft and if one is chosen instead of Saad. Should be prepared to get less than you ideally deserve, but the conditional.term would help if it can even be negotiated

I still think it was a bogus move by Crawford. If he has a good year he is a free agent again and the goalie market for him is better than this year.

I wanted to first thank Wiz & Theo on the draft pick updates. After reading more into them I’m warming up a bit. I think the Dmen picks of Kaiser, Phillips, and even Crevier have a solid chance to progress and make an impact down the road.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the progress with Vlasic, Regula, and Demin. Adding their size & defense to the puck moving Dmen already in AHL/NHL...might form some good/great pairings. We can only hope another Keith/Seabrook pairing will emerge.

As we are basically not going to sign any FA, another option might be taking on LTIR contracts (similar to Arizona & Toronto a few years back). I saw someone mention Dubinsky from Columbus ....maybe for a 2nd in 2022?

If I was Stan I would try to extend him at 4x$5m. If he says no time to move on.
- rpeters01

Yes, I’m right there with you and who knows, maybe this offer or similar has already been presented to him. I’m a big Saad fan, but Stan has to be in charge, not the player and not the player’s agent. Make offer and set deadline, then you know where you stand.

That only works if we are really close to the cap. What do you think they’ll do to get us closer to the max cap?
- walleyeb1

If the Hawks go with a 23 man roster on day 2 and re-sign Strome for around $2,5 million they’ll have about $2 million in cap space, less the bonus carry-forward from last year. They could sign a veteran goalie (i.e. Dell) to get close to the cap.

I still think it was a bogus move by Crawford. If he has a good year he is a free agent again and the goalie market for him is better than this year.
- Sn1362

Why? How do we know what the Hawks offered, because we read that he was offered $3.5M, that’s just speculation, did Crow confirm that?

Embrace the youth movement. None of us knows how good these goalies can be. Take a chance and you could have the position filled for 2 years for cheap.

Long time reader/lurker here, enjoy your approach to the Blog Theo, thank you for your efforts!

I have been as critical as anyone on many of Stan's moves over the years, but agree that now was the time to move on from Crow and develop the kids to see what we have in house (please no to Kuemper.) Have to like the Kubalik signing at 2 yrs, and excited to see the young guns on D this upcoming season with no expectations we're in the hunt for the cup.

It's also only interesting to look at Stan from an ownership standpoint when looking at Cap vs. actual salaries. Yes, Toews and Kane's AAV are $10.5, but their actual salaries are $7 or so. Kieth's AAV is $5.5 but he's earning what- $2? Shaw is also $1M in cash outlay below his cap hit. Bottom line, these 4 guys are being paid $10 million below their cap hits and that's good biz during the current revenue climate. Gives me a dif't perspective on a players "value" when evaluating T&K, etc..
- CtHawksMan

Welcome to the writing side and thank you, CtHawksM! Please post more if you're comfortable!

Astute post on AAV versus actual salaries. I'll admit, this is something I'm learning more about so I appreciate you and others that have started to talk about this. Definitely useful in this era of pandemic-impacted finances.

Why? How do we know what the Hawks offered, because we read that he was offered $3.5M, that’s just speculation, did Crow confirm that?
- Angotti

@ByScottPowers
Crawford said there wasn't much negotiation after the initial offer. He expected more back and forth from the Blackhawks.

And from The Athletic article

We may never know. A source said the Blackhawks offered Crawford a one-year, $3.5 million deal. Crawford mentioned the offer being around $3 million.

Crawford entered the offseason thinking he’d be signing his fourth contract with the Blackhawks. They made their initial offer. It wasn’t what he expected, and he hoped for more. He assumed it was just the start of negotiations.

But it wasn’t.

The Blackhawks made their offer, Crawford declined, both sides returned to their corners and neither budged. One source said Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman spoke very little to Crawford’s agent over the last three weeks.

When Bowman and Crawford got on the phone Thursday, Crawford didn’t expect to hear what he did. Bowman wasn’t coming with another offer. He was moving on and allowing Crawford to become a free agent. Crawford described himself as “devastated” by the news.

“There just wasn’t much negotiation,” Crawford said. “We thought there would be more talk. I think it was at $3 (million). We just didn’t go back and forth at all, so it just kind of ended there. There’s not much more I can say about that.

“I don’t think it was necessarily (the term). We just didn’t negotiate that much. That’s all it really was. I can’t really say much more about that. Let’s leave it there.”

Seems like it was Bowman tossing a 17-year veteran a bone as a sign of respect (in his opinion) rather than just being up front that they had a plan to move on to the youth. Or, maybe the Smith situation is what changed it as some have claimed, but that seems really suspect as a reason.

Several players (and maybe this is normal) have gone public in recent years about bad faith negotiating (or lack thereof) from StanBo - Saad, Panarin, Jokiharju, Crow, Lehner, etc. Maybe it's no big deal and common, but will FA players stop trusting him and look elsewhere?

Why? How do we know what the Hawks offered, because we read that he was offered $3.5M, that’s just speculation, did Crow confirm that?
- Angotti

No guarantee goalie market is better next year. If revenue is a disaster cap could be lower and there could even be less teams. I'm not sure how the AHL survives without bankruptcy?

Just not sure how much improvement until he becomes much noticeably stronger. Stronger hopefully equates with increase in confidence. How long until he is stronger. It has to be natural enough add in strength so his skill is not affected. See DeBrincat whom compromised his skill by bulking up too much per his body capacity ....he surely didn't loose ability ....he merely blocked the skillet. For DeBrincat i surmise he can return to his 40 goal form once he gets his body right

Maybe therefore depending upon Boqvist body type he needs to gradually add strength. Is he a big boned you know like broad shoulder kid. It may be asking too much for Boqvist to add considerable strength soon and possibly long term as well.

When recently reportedly some in Blackhawk organization said to sour on Boqvist. If there is any shred of creditibility perhaps it is about Boqvist able to get much stronger and retain his skill set. Emphasize here i am just digging on a subject that may not have any truth to it.
- jhawk59

Teravainen has packed on muscle and gotten much stronger since joining the Canes so I'm not too worried about Boqvist at this stage. If Teravainen can do it, so can Boqvist.

It's a matter of putting on weight and muscle the right way. Dach stated as such after the Hawks got eliminated. Do it inappropriately and it hinders your play on the ice.

I WISH they were trading Jost. I thin k he was really rushed and that is whey you have what you see now, in terms of his development.

Not sure Ans want the Saad deal if the can get Taylor Hall for the same change...
- wiz1901

If saad is traded to Colorado i would zadorov or graves coming back gives much needed physical element we plus either of them could pair with boqvist to protect him and let play his offensive game hawks need from him.

Why? How do we know what the Hawks offered, because we read that he was offered $3.5M, that’s just speculation, did Crow confirm that?
- Angotti

We don't know for sure but it seams to me that it was probably pretty close to that. It really doesn't matter that much, all i was saying is if it is true BOGUS!

Good point to remember on the “low” actual cash outlay for those you mentioned - $7 each for Kane and Toews, $2.6 for Keith - $16.6 cash compared to $26.5 cap hit. (That’s before escrow return or proration because of a shorter season).
- StLBravesFan

Agreed. Today T&K are each making $7M (on an annualized pre-Covid basis), which illustrates we paid a high price in their star power performing years (which seems more than fair for 3 Cups), and that it's not a bad actual salary value in today's market for what they bring to the table. Not that they are not complaining about what they currently make (that I've ever heard or read), but in addition to their taxes, I understand that escrow holds approx 10% for season end balancing and re-distribution.