What a difference a year makes as Hawks score big

Marian Hossa is probably aware that it has been 25 years since any club has made three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Hossa made that task tougher for Detroit when he left the Red Wings on Wednesday and joined the Blackhawks, who now believe they're poised for a genuine run at the Stanley Cup.

As opposed to the unfortunate, wasteful signings of a year ago, Hossa is a terrific two-way player and was the very best player on the free-agent market.

It's a huge statement to Hawks fans that the club wants to win it all in 2010.

It remains to be seen whether they can do that without a legitimate No. 1 goaltender and a few more defensemen who can play in their own end against top-flight forwards.

And while defense and goaltending still win in the NHL, perhaps the Hawks intend to outscore everyone on the way to the Stanley Cup.

If nothing else, it sure will be entertaining to watch.

This move smells of Scotty Bowman, who understands the value of a player who works at both ends of the ice and who isn't afraid to bang.

He also knows this really hurt the Wings, who wanted very much to keep the 30-year-old Hossa.

The big winger averaged 77 games and 82 points the last four years, as opposed to the always-injured Martin Havlat, who averaged 48 games and 44 points the last four seasons.

Looming, however, are serious salary-cap issues.

As of early Wednesday afternoon, the Hawks have - for 2010-11 - about $36 million tied up in one goalie (Cristobal Huet), three defensemen (Brian Campbell, Brent Seabrook and Brent Sopel) and five forwards (Patrick Sharp, Dave Bolland, Dustin Byfuglien, Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky).

Before that season, the Hawks need to sign Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith, and why any of them would take less money than the Hawks handed Campbell is beyond me.

But for the sake of argument, let's say they do. Let's say Toews accepts $6.5 million, Kane $6 million, and Keith $5.5 million.

That puts the Hawks at about $54 million, which probably is more than the cap will be in 2010-11, when it shrinks from the current $56 million.

Any way you look at it, the Hawks are at or over the cap in 2010-11 with only one goalie, four defensemen and seven forwards, which is half a roster.

It leaves the Hawks no dollars to pay 10-11 more players, including Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, Cam Barker, Ben Eager, Jack Skille, Adam Burish, Colin Fraser, Aaron Johnson, Troy Brouwer, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Corey Crawford or Antti Niemi, to name just a few.

So, obviously, some fan favorites and big contracts are going to have to go somewhere else, or the Hawks won't be able to put a full team on the ice 15 months from now.

Now, there has been talk for months that there are some in the hockey part of the front office who have less love for Kane than those in the promotions department, but we find it hard to believe that those who sell tickets would ever allow Kane to go anywhere.

Most on the West Side would love to move Campbell, Huet and Sopel, but good luck with that.

In the meantime, they added a fabulous player in Hossa and a very valuable player in Kopecky, a No. 3 center who also left Detroit to sign a two-year deal with the Hawks.

Kopecky is a skilled grinder who loves to hit and get his nose dirty, something the Hawks desperately need, leading you to believe this was a Bowman order as well.

You didn't see Kopecky against the Hawks in the conference finals because he got the absolute snot beat out of him after calling out Francois Beauchemin in Game 4 of the Anaheim series.

The fight was Kopecky's idea, and it was a bad one. Nevertheless, he's a really nice addition.

So while those two signings Wednesday are terrific, the Hawks have some real work to do to get ready for next summer, or maybe their plan is to just try to win it next year and worry about the consequences of the cap squeeze while covered from head to toe in champagne and beer.

It wouldn't be a shock since they've proven in the past couple of years that they have no concept of cap management, or asset management.

Oh, well. That's for another day, as the Hawks celebrate the addition of two very nice players as well as a strong defensive center in John Madden.

Especially compared to the awful signings of Campbell and Huet a year ago, Wednesday was a very good day indeed.

brozner@dailyherald.com