Cap is going to $75M to $76M, what else are you doing?

Is that cap confirmed or still projected? If it does go up, and I understand it likely will, I'd try to sign Boyles. Good faceoff, big center. I was thinking they could've used him at the trade deadline but was glad Bowman didn't go all in this year since for half the season the Blackhawks were a .500 team. They still have $3M in bonuses that I didn't really account for.
I think the season after next Hossa's salary drops to $1M and if they can get him to waive his NMC his contract becomes movable. I view next season as a mini-rebuild/hope players develop with a relatively flat cap, and then 2018 it becomes easier to make moves. They'll still make the playoffs. I kind of looked at the Penguins last year. After they won the 1st Cup w/Crosby/Malkin they kept trading prospect & picks but falling short. I could be wrong, but when they finally stopped making big moves at the deadline (new coach helped too of course) and let some players develop they won their 2nd Cup. I think the Blackhawks need to be a little quiet for a year or two before they can seriously contend again.

Hossa's salary drops to 1 million this year but it doesn't change the cap hit. The cap hit is based on the average annual value (AAV) which is calculated by simply taking the total sum of the contract divided by the term in years (total dollar value/term of contract in years= AAV). The contract has 3 seasons of 1 million because they front loaded the contract (which is no longer a loud) and added extra years to lower his AAV which helps circumvent the cap.

Hossa will not be traded unless its the last 2 years of his contract. He is still good, and there are a couple reasons not to trade him.

While is agree with the "don't make big moves and wait for players to develop" idea, it might be too late for that to happen now. Keith, Seabrook, and Hossa are all beginning to decline. It really is questionable if they can keep playing at a high enough level that won the team the 3 cups it has. The Hawks should have held assets in 2015-16. I See 2017-18 as the Hawks last really shot at a Cup. Unless the Seabrook deal is somehow moved.



Yes but budget team NEVER have salary cap issues, simply because they don't have the money to spend. They will jump on a Hossa contract if he is still playing good enough to be a top 9 guy. All they see it as is they are paying $1M for a player and they don't have to worry about the cap floor.

I do understand cap hits & AAV. However, how many times has Pronger's contract been traded after he retired? Teams in a rebuild and/or cheap teams sometimes value cap hits with low salary was my point. Hossa is still a valuable player. Just not a top line RW.

Unless the cap impossibly jumps to 78M, there's just not much that they can do this offseason. Pray Butcher signs with them? Maybe Kampf can play LW with Toews and Hayden 80% of Saad? Toews needs shooters and another forward to get the puck in the corner so that he can fight near the crease and get the greasy goals as Eddie O calls them. I think that's the reason for his point decline. He needs a big power forward type to shoot sometimes and get the puck the other times.