Rozner: Cap challenge coming for Blackhawks, Bowman

Stan Bowman has stood at the back of the theater and read the poor reviews too many times to worry about the critics.

He has rebuilt a cap-strapped team twice, been to the conference finals five times in seven years and the Stanley Cup Final thrice, and he's not worried about having to do it again.

But make no mistake, there's going to be many new faces on the roster next season and this job will be one of Bowman's toughest.

Word around the NHL is the Blackhawks are telling young players who might want to sign that they will have several jobs available, unlike a year ago when they would not make the same promise to Kevin Hayes, a No. 2 center with size whom the Hawks drafted but couldn't sign when they couldn't guarantee him a job. He's now with the Rangers.

That's not happening right now.

They're expected to be major players in the bidding for college stars Zach Hyman (Michigan) and Mike Reilly (Minnesota), among others, and they've already inked several players like Artemi Panarin.

As of July 1, the Hawks will be at about $70 million and very close to the cap with Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw, Bryan Bickell, Kris Versteeg, Teuvo Teravainen and we'll assume about $6 million for Brandon Saad.

Also included are Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Trevor van Riemsdyk, with goalies Corey Crawford and Scott Darling.

That's 13 skaters and two goalies and, essentially, no cap room at that point.

This list doesn't include unrestricted free agents Johnny Oduya, Brad Richards, Antoine Vermette, Michal Rozsival, Kyle Cumiskey, Dan Carcillo, Kimmo Timonen and Andrew Desjardins, nor does it include restricted free agents Marcus Kruger, Joakim Nordstrom or David Rundblad.

Even without all those players, and newcomers like Panarin, the Hawks are up against it, meaning Sharp and Bickell will again be trade candidates, and the following summer will bring more UFAs — like Seabrook — and more RFAs — like Shaw.

This also assumes the departures July 1 of all the UFAs, like Oduya, Vermette and Richards, and possible trades of some RFAs.

So, yes, this will be another tough summer made much easier if it happens after yet another parade and Grant Park celebration.

“I give (Stan) a lot of credit,” said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville. “We call it 'the salary-cap world.' It's a challenge every season.

“You're faced with several possibilities of players coming in and (going) out. The strong part is that we have the core in place and work around it.

“I think we've had some useful pickups late in the season. They've all added a dimension to our team. I think it's the depth of our team a lot of times that in tight situations can win games and stay with it.”

When you consider the possible defections, it's no wonder the Hawks talk so much about wanting to win with this group, something that helped sustain them when they were struggling against Nashville and Anaheim.

Players are not oblivious. They talk to their agents, and those agents talk to people around the league, and those people can use calculators.

They know what's coming and some of them have been through this a couple times already after championship seasons.

As for Bowman, well, it seems no matter what he does to help get the Hawks back to the final four or Final round, he can't please some among the faithful, but when your core is this talented and eats up so much of the salary cap, tough decisions have to be made.

“There's a lot of talk about that all the time,” Bowman said. “It's a challenge. The salary cap, it's a system we all play under. We've been through it before.

“There's changes to be made to every team, and we're no different. We have some young players that are going to get opportunities next year.”

The Hawks have every intention of being in a position to win again next season, but right now they're just trying to finish off this one.

Many of those contributing now will not be a part of the next one, and in part it helps explain the emotion with which they play when they're behind.

There's a lot at stake. Several players will not be back — and they already know it.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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