Hawks Win Cup, Immediately Face Cap Problems

Congratulations to the 2010 Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks!  On behalf of myself and Daily Faceoff, we would like to say thank you for a great regular season, postseason and we look forward to covering the offseason!

Take a good hard look at the picture above, because come next season there will be some not so familiar faces.

According to Cap Geek, the Hawks already see themselves over the cap with only 14 players signed through the regular season.  Those numbers also come without netminder Antti Niemi re-signed or game six hero Andrew Ladd under contract. Lyle Richardson of Spector’s Hockey believes it will take around 8 million to resign Ben Eager, Adam Burish, Niemi, Ladd and Niklas Hjalmarsson– a luxury they do not have.

As far as your fantasy team goes, any player you own traded from the current champions will drop in value.  A guy like Kris Versteeg, Dave Bolland or even Brian Campbell would be hard-pressed to find a roster as talented as the one currently constructed.  In addition, the Hawks would be inclined on dealing with a team unlikely to contend with them for a few years, just like in the Cam Barker for Kim Johnsson deal.

This summer will be interesting as Stan Bowman certainly has things up his sleeves.