Hawks may look different when next season arrives

Change is inevitable in the NHL, which means the Blackhawks team everyone watched leave it all on the ice throughout the regular season and playoffs will have a different look in 2009-10.

But unlike past off-seasons, there won't be sweeping changes. Maybe a tweak here and there by general manager Dale Tallon and his staff to bring in a physical, stay-at-home defenseman or another forward with some size and jam.

Many of the pieces are in place for a long run of success starting with captain Jonathan Toews, who many feel is the best young leader in all of hockey.

"I think (Patrick) Kane is a great player, don't get me wrong, but to me the guy you build the franchise around is the Toews kid," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "He's a will machine. He just keeps coming and keeps coming."

If the Red Wings are the league's model franchise for what they do on and off the ice, the Hawks have at least served notice that they are going to be a team to be reckoned with.

"We'll get there. That's our goal," Tallon said. "We're looking forward to the challenge."

Babcock praised the Hawks following Wednesday's 2-1 overtime win that ended the Western Conference finals in five games.

"I just think in the last couple years in particular, they've really come a long, long way," Babcock said. "Guys you didn't even knew their names now are household names, legitimate NHL players.

"I'm very impressed with (Duncan) Keith and (Brent) Seabrook on the back end. I think they're as good a matchup pair as you're going to have. They'll sort out their goaltending thing, which guy they want to keep, whatever. But I like their team. They have a lot of good players and their role players are good as well."

Babcock started the West finals wondering how the Hawks would handle their salary cap problem going forward, and he ended it Wednesday with a similar comment.

"They have a chance with their pieces to be a real good team," Babcock said. "Now how they manage the cap is going to determine a lot of that. It will be tough decisions they have to make here coming up. I don't think they've got tough decisions next year. It's the year after that that's going to start getting ugly for them."

Tallon is well aware of the work that lies ahead keeping the core of the team together.

"You never know what can happen with this group," Kane said. "If they can keep it together somehow or someway. We have a great group here."

Toews, Kane and Keith all will need new contracts after next season, and negotiations could start at $6 million a year for each of them.

But first things first. The Hawks must decide quickly if they want to re-sign unrestricted free agents Martin Havlat, Sammy Pahlsson and Matt Walker before they hit the open market on July 1.

Tallon has said he wants Havlat back, and the injury the veteran winger suffered in Game 3 against Detroit on the hit from Niklas Kronwall shouldn't change anything. It's going to come down to how much money Havlat wants, and for how many years.

Should the Hawks elect not to re-sign Havlat, Pahlsson and Walker, they would have nearly $15 million off the books - including Nikolai Khabibulin's $6.75 million - to spend elsewhere.

Khabibulin is also an unrestricted free agent and all signs point to the Hawks letting him walk and handing the No. 1 job to Cristobal Huet.

"I don't even want to think about next season yet," Huet said.

The Hawks will need all the extra money they can find to help re-sign their key restricted free agents should they choose to do so. That would be Dave Bolland, Kris Versteeg, Troy Brouwer, Cam Barker and Ben Eager.

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