Hawks walk away from Niemi, sign Turco

Jonathan Toews was asked over the weekend if the Blackhawks could have won the Stanley Cup without Antti Niemi.

"Absolutely not," the captain said.

If the Hawks are going to repeat as Stanley Cup champions they'll have to do it with a new goalie after the team decided Monday to walk away from the 26-year-old Niemi's $2.75 million arbitration award.

Veteran Marty Turco became the Hawks' new No. 1 goaltender when he agreed to a one-year, $1.3 million contract as a free agent.

Niemi now is an unrestricted free agent and could sign with San Jose or Washington. It was reported by CSNPhilly.com that the Flyers have no interest in Niemi.

"We exhausted all our options with Antti Niemi," Hawks general manager Stan Bowman said Monday. "We made several contract offers, including a multiyear offer, and never was able to work it out and we've decided to go in another direction.

"I'm really excited with the direction we're headed here. Marty has an accomplished record in the league and I think he's going to complement our team. I know he's hungry for a Stanley Cup and we're hungry to defend the Cup."

The Hawks could have squeezed Niemi's $2.75 million award under the cap, but it would have left them with a thin bottom half of the roster and just a few hundred thousand dollars of injury cushion.

Saving money on Niemi provides top prospects such as left wing Kyle Beach and defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy with a better chance to make the team. It also could free up more money for next summer when defenseman Brent Seabrook has to be re-signed.

With Corey Crawford backing up Turco, the combined cap hit for the Hawks' two goalies will be just $2.1 million.

Welcome to the new NHL.

"The decision we made was in the best interest of the franchise for the short-term and the long-term this season," Bowman said. "You have to have the flexibility in your roster. The cap situation has been well documented here and I think this is the best way to approach the team as we prepare to defend the Cup in October."

Turco, who turns 35 on Aug. 13, was 22-20-11 with Dallas last season with a 2.72 goals-against average and .913 save percentage. He appeared in 53 regular-season games compared to 39 for Niemi, who had a comparable .912 save percentage but a better goals-against average at 2.25.

Turco did lose 11 more games in overtime or shootouts playing on a mediocre Dallas team that missed the playoffs.

"Physically, I've never been better," Turco said. "Even though the last two years haven't gone as I would have liked, I haven't lost any confidence in anything I can do on the ice.

"The last few years have been tough mentally on me because we haven't made the playoffs."

Turco is second among active goalies with a 2.31 career goals-against average and sixth in wins with 262.

"We were a little bit surprised (to get the chance to sign with the Hawks)," Turco said. "I said earlier about the desire to play for the Blackhawks before the playoffs even began. When they won, I assumed the opportunity was erased."

Bowman admitted he had been negotiating with Turco just in case things didn't work out with Niemi.

"Marty is a guy we've had interested in for a long time here and we're fortunate he had some patience with us," Bowman said. "We've been really working on parallel paths for a while to make sure we did the right thing here."

Bowman said he hadn't spoken to Niemi since Thursday's arbitration hearing in Toronto. Niemi became the 10th member of the Stanley Cup champs to either be traded or allowed to leave as a free agent.

"The players that aren't with us anymore, we'll always have that championship together," Bowman said. "(Niemi) was a big part of it, clearly, but we're on to the next thing. We're excited about the opportunity to defend the Cup. And we're very excited to have someone of Marty's caliber in our organization. We have to look forward. We had a great season last year, a great ending, but we're looking forward."

Bowman left no doubt that Turco is the No. 1 guy.

"We think Corey has a bright future, but the experience level here, that's what we were looking for, someone like Marty," Bowman said.

Meet the newest Hawk Marty Turco, goaltenderSize: 5-11, 184 poundsBorn: Aug 13, 1975, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, CanadaDrafted: 5th round (124th overall) by Dallas in 1994 Entry Draft Regular season Last season Career Games 53 509 Record 22-20-11 262-154-26 Save percent .913 .911 Goals against avg. 2.72 2.31 Playoffs Last season Career Games DNP 47 Record DNP 21-26-0 Save percent DNP .914 Goals against avg. DNP 2.17 Fast fact: In Dallas, Turco was a backup for two seasons to former Blackhawks goalie Ed Belfour before winning the job. When he played at Michigan, Turco left as the all-time winningest collegiate goalie with a record of 127-28-7. He also was a rookie of the year in the IHL.False20001403Goalie Marty TurcoAssociated PressFalse <div class="infoBox"><h1>More Coverage</h1><div class="infoBoxContent"><div class="infoArea"><h2>Photo Galleries</h2><ul class="gallery"><li><a href="/story/?id=397997">Images of goalie Marty Turco </a></li></ul><h2>Stories</h2><ul class="links"><li><a href="/story/?id=398115">Turco can handle joining a winner <span class="date"> [8/2/10]</span></a></li></ul></div></div></div>