The Hammer stays: Blackhawks to match offer for Hjalmarsson

The Hammer is staying put.

But that might not be the case for a few other key Blackhawks.

General manager Stan Bowman announced Monday he would match San Jose's four-year, $14 million offer sheet for restricted free-agent defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson, which only complicates the Hawks' salary cap problem.

Hjalmarsson's cap hit is $3.5 million - surely more than the Hawks expected to play the third-year defenseman.

Bowman's next obstacle is to get restricted free-agent goalie Antti Niemi re-signed, something he would like to accomplish before Niemi's July 29 arbitration hearing.

However, there might not be enough money to take on another substantial contract such as Niemi's.

"We're still working that out and hopefully we can get him signed," Bowman said. "We're still negotiating with Antti and it's a back-and-forth. It's a negotiating and both sides have their point of view. Hopefully it works out."

There are new rumors about Patrick Sharp and his $3.9 million cap hit possibly being back in play for a trade after it appeared he had survived the gutting of the team.

It also was reported by ESPN.com on Monday that the Hawks have let it be known that defenseman Brian Campbell and his $7.1 million cap hit is available, though it's unlikely there's a team out there willing to take on that kind of money for six more years.

Campbell has a partial no-trade clause that allows him to supply the Hawks with a list of eight teams he would be willing to go to in a trade.

The Hawks have 15 players under contract for 2010-11 with virtually no room left under the $59.4 million salary cap.

But another $5.6 million would open up as soon as the Hawks figure out what they're going to do with backup goalie Cristobal Huet.

"We're going to have to work things out, obviously," Bowman said. "We've been saying all along that our goal is go keep our core together and Niklas is part of that core."

Bowman had until Friday to make the decision to match the offer sheet for Hjalmarsson, but he didn't need that much time.

"Niklas was a big part of our success last year and he's a part of our core that's going to be together a long time," Bowman said. "He's a quiet leader amongst our defensive group. I think he gets overshadowed because we have some other superstars, but he was really effective for us all year long.

"I think his steady play is something, and he's only going to get better. He's 23 years old. I'm happy for Niklas and excited he's going to be with us for a while."

Bowman admitted he was surprised by the offer sheet for Hjalmarsson but wouldn't criticize Sharks GM Doug Wilson for making it when it's rarely done in the NHL.

"I think it's part of the (collective bargaining agreement)," Bowman said. "It doesn't happen much and I'll leave it at that."

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville was at prospects camp Monday and was thrilled with the news that Hjalmarsson would be back on the blue line.

"I'm happy for us and I'm happy for Nik," Quenneville said. "He's a very dependable defenseman and his character is great. He does everything you look for in a defenseman.

"You can never have enough defensemen around and having a predictable defenseman at such a young age is hard to find."