Will Hockey Hall welcome Belfour?

The Hockey Hall of Fame reveals its class of 2011 Tuesday and one of the favorites to be enshrined on his first try is former Blackhawks goaltender Ed Belfour.

Many consider Belfour to be a sure-thing Hall of Famer, if not this year, then at some point in the near future.

Belfour is third on the NHL's all-time wins list with 484. He won two Vezina Trophies, four Jennings Trophies and the Calder Trophy in 1991 as rookie of the year with the Hawks. He also won a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars.

Belfour still owns six Hawks records, including most wins in a season with 43 in his rookie year of 1990-91.

Unfortunately he spent only six full years with the Hawks. A contract dispute led to Belfour's trade to San Jose during the 1996-97 in one of the worst deals in club history.

Former general manager Bob Pulford sent Belfour to the Sharks in exchange for Ulf Dahlen, Chris Terreri and Michal Sykora.

It was the trades of Belfour, Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios under Pulford's watch as either GM or senior vice president that sent the Hawks into one of the worst periods in franchise history when they missed the playoffs in nine out of 10 seasons starting in 1997-98.

In addition to Belfour, three other players are considered to have the best shot to get into the Hall of Fame:

Ÿ Doug Gilmour. Another ex-Hawk who had his best years with Toronto. Gilmour is 12th all-time in assists and 17th in points. This is his sixth attempt at making the Hall.

Ÿ Pavel Bure. He was one of the best goal scorers ever and also is trying to get in for the sixth time.

Ÿ Joe Nieuwendyk. He won three Stanley Cups and is 20th all-time in goals with 564.

Kopecky dealt:

In two separate moves Monday, the Hawks traded the negotiating rights to unrestricted free-agent forward Tomas Kopecky to the Florida Panthers in exchange for a conditional seventh-round draft pick and decided not to make a qualifying contract offer to center Jake Dowell.

Dowell now becomes an unrestricted free agent Friday. He still could end up re-signing with the Hawks, but he might have to accept a two-way contract.

The Hawks did make Michael Frolik, Chris Campoli and Viktor Stalberg qualifying contract offers before Monday's deadline.

All that means is the Hawks offered Frolik, Campoli and Stalberg the minimum raise as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement. Negotiations between the Hawks and the three restricted free agents remain ongoing.

Dowell appeared in 79 games last season with 6 goals and 15 points, but he isn't the kind of physical presence the Hawks need going forward.

Kopecky didn't figure into general manager Stan Bowman's plans for next season, so getting a draft pick for his negotiating rights was a bonus.

Florida GM Dale Tallon has until Friday to sign Kopecky or he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Kopecky had a career year last season with 15 goals and 42 points while earning $1.2 million. It's believed he was looking to at least double his salary, which took him out of the picture with the Hawks.

Tip-ins:

In other NHL news Monday, defenseman Kevin Bieksa signed a five-year, $23 million contract extension with Vancouver. Bieksa was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent Friday.

Meanwhile, Nashville made the decision not to re-sign veteran forward Steve Sullivan, while Pittsburgh center Tyler Kennedy and Philadelphia winger Dan Carcillo did not receive qualifying contract offers and will be unrestricted free agents Friday.

The volatile Carcillo poses an interesting question for the Hawks. Should they pursue a guy who definitely plays with an edge, but who also takes bad penalties? We'll know Friday.