Quoting: CH1C4G0
I like your realistic approach to post's on Cap Friendly , I feel a lot of non hawk fans just like to assume the worst and trade away our best players its " SAD " ! Oh well .........
The truth is the Hawks aren't far away from winning another Cup... The Hawks have the foundation to win, they just need the supporting cast.. They need depth players that can be found on the UFA market. It would be ridiculous to make any major trades right now, because the players we have aren't the problem - the players we don't have is the problem, but Bowman had no cap space last summer to make improvements. Bowman was forced to trade quality players and key players due to the cap, I mean the Hawks lost Panarin, Hossa, Hjalmarsson, Kruger, TvR, Campbell and replaced them with Saad and a bunch of rookies, what did people think would happen this season? but like I said Bowman didn't have much choice, but now the solution to some "fans" is to have a fire sale.... It's crazy.
This summer Bowman will have a sizable chunk of cap space to work with , he has no major free agents to sing.. The only guys he has to sign are Duclair, Hinostroza, Hayden and Sikura, Bowman has 20 million in cap space (with 17 players under contract for next season) to do that, and locking up the 4 aforementioned players will only take about 7 million because they're all RFA's so Bowman will have about 12 million to spend on unrestricted free agents with a roster of 21 contracts. .... Bowman can certainly make improvements with 12 million and 3-4 open roster spots for UFA's...
I think everything is going to be fine, and the Blackhawks will be back contending for a Cup next spring. And if they're not contending next spring THEN I will get worried.... I mean I'm not going to blame Bowman for the state of this present team because Bowman had nothing to work with last summer - no - this present team is the result of the salary cap.... But like I pointed out above - Bowman will have some cap space so it will be interesting to see how he improves this team....
But look on the bright side of this season - the kids got an opportunity to play and get a year of experience and grow, DeBrincat and Schmaltz have really shown they can be future stars, management got an entire season to evaluate the roster so they know what we need going into the summer - not only that but the Hawks will have a top 5 or 10 pick at this summers draft, and this is a really really deep draft too.
IMO, I think it was time the Hawks took a step back for a season so the team can be evaluated moving forward to give it a sense of direction ..
That's the way I see it..... This "rebuild" stuff is nonsense - it's hyperbole.