Not sure I would dump Murphy so soon. We'll see how he looks after coming back from injury in the next couple months. Boqvist will likely not be a regular player until 2020 at the earliest (maybe a mid-season callup), so Murphy could continue to play a role on the right side.

Although I thought Jokiharju would be on his way back to junior by now but he has looked excellent, so what do I know?

im hoping boqvist can make the jump if not the hawks can hang onto murphy/anisimov for one more season. Once debrincat get paid (which he will) they will have to make some moves

Schmaltz is way over payed. He is probably going to be in the 4-5.5 mil range. Especially since he can't win face-offs and is only good with kane. Also as much as I would love for the bread man to come back to chicago, its never going to happen. You also didn't leave much cap room to resign Debrincat who is going to be between 5-6.5 mil. I would package the rights to forsberg and murphy to try and get a definite second or a 3rd and fourth round pick

I'm definitely interested in seeing what Boqvist can do and while he had a little bit of a rough start in first few OHL games (easily understandable considering he had maybe 1 or 2 practices with the team before his 1st game) Stan may actually let him sit down there 1 more year. Ian Mitchell and Chad Krys both need to be signed before these NCAA players leave for nothing. 1 more year in the OHL isn't the worst thing. It'll actually help the long term cap a bit more.

As of today...10.25.18...I don't know what to give Schmaltz. I mean is he a center or winger??? No one (not even Q or Bowman) can answer that today. His stats are actually somewhat close to Saad.. so 6 yr - $6M... if we want to, but Bowman clearly didn't want to do that for Saad, hence traded him away. However, it'll be 4 years from that trade after this year and kids get paid more. I tend to think Schmaltz is going to get a prove it bridge deal. probably a 2 or 3 year $4M - $4.75M. The Hawks should like this because their cap issues will dwindle during this time frame and Schmaltz isn't giving away his best contract opportunity. In Fact, he should gain more on his next deal while he figures out who he is.

When Saad signed his 6 x 6 deal in Columbus, the cap was about $71.4 million, representing 8.5% of the cap. If Schmaltz were to sign a 6 x 6 deal today today, assuming a modest increase in cap space for next year, it would represent 7.5% of the cap, so technically it would take up less space.

That being said, I think Schmlatz is having a bit of an identity crisis in figuring out his role. Many people assumed him to be the logical 2C behind Toews but, as you've mentioned, he seems to fit better on the wing. With that in mind, do you commit to him long term as a winger? Would it be more prudent to move him for Center depth and take that $6 million and apply it to a big free agency signing? Panarin, Stone, Duchene?

So, yes I agree a bridge deal is probably the smart move here.