Blackhawks Front Office Has Tough Salary Cap Issues to Solve
The Chicago Blackhawks have been the 2015 Stanley Cup Champions less than 48 hours and already tough decisions must be considered by the front office.
Duncan Keith earned the MVP award for Chicago in the Stanley Cup Finals, but this offseason general manager Stan Bowman will be the most valuable part of the organization and he has his work cut out for him.
Bowman told reporters shortly after the Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup in six years that the organization has a plan in place and will make it work but first there is some celebrating to do.
This is not the first time Bowman has gone through salary cap issues. After winning the Stanley Cup in 2010, the salary cap cost the team players like Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg, Antti Niemi and Andrew Ladd.
This time there is hardly any salary cap increase while extensions for Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews that are $10.5 million apiece kick in. Then there is the small issue of re-signing Brandon Saad a restricted free agent. All this means the front office, with help from players, will have to be creative yet again.
Bowman called the situation a challenge, but he said every team plays under the same system and his team has been successful winning Stanley Cups of late in the system.
Bowman is the son of former NHL coach Scotty Bowman who is now a consultant for the Blackhawks. He is the most successful NHL coach in history and said how difficult it has been for his son and the rest of the organization due to the salary cap.
The Blackhawks are definitely keeping Saad regardless of any offer sheet he receives from other clubs. Both Bowman and Saad agree the player wants to remain with Chicago, finding how to do that of course is Bowman’s job.
With Saad saying he wants to stay, there will be at least one or maybe more top name players who will no longer being wearing the Chicago sweater come next season.
It could be Bryan Bickell or Patrick Sharp or a host of other names. Sharp said he became emotional looking at all his teammates celebrating on the ice and wondering who will return and who will not including himself.
The word dynasty is not used often in the world of sports, but it is being heard now that the Blackhawks have won three of the past six Stanley Cups. With the salary cap, staying at the top for this long certainly shows how talented of an organization Chicago has.
What Bowman is able to do to keep that word dynasty in the conversation will take place over the next few weeks.
