Blackhawks give Seabrook 5-year extension

While much of Blackhawks Nation frets over Brent Seabrook's new contract and what it means with regard to fitting everyone under the salary cap for next season, general manager Stan Bowman remained confident it would all work out.

The Hawks finalized Seabrook's five-year, $29 million contract extension on Sunday that will put the veteran defenseman's annual salary cap hit at $5.8 million.

The Hawks now have $49.3 million committed to 12 players for 2011-12, according to Capgeek.com, including $21.9 million alone for defensemen Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Brian Campbell and Niklas Hjalmarsson.

The NHL salary cap presently is $59.4 million but is expected to go up, perhaps by more than $3 million.

“Based on those projections we're comfortable with where that leaves us,” Bowman said. “We went through this last year; certainly this summer's not going to be nearly as difficult as last year.

“We had three players — Keith, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane — getting dramatic raises last year all at the same time for a team that was already at the cap.

This year we've got Brent getting a raise, but he was already making a good salary. We have a few other players to sign, but they're not going to be receiving dramatic increases like last year.

“We're situated well going forward and we've planned things out,” Bowman said. “We're excited, more importantly, that we still have Brent around. He's kind of a fixture on our defense. I'm not sure he's even reached his potential yet.”

For Bowman, the key restricted free agents remaining to sign, if the Hawks choose to do so, are Corey Crawford, Troy Brouwer, Viktor Stalberg, Michael Frolik and Jake Dowell.

Five Hawks will be unrestricted free agents: Tomas Kopecky, Marty Turco, Jordan Hendry, Fernando Pisani and Ryan Johnson.

Seabrook will receive $5 million in salary for five years and a $2 million signing bonus in each of the first two years of the contract. The deal includes a limited no-movement clause.

Bowman said he expected to have all five of his top defenseman (Nick Leddy included) on the roster to start next season.

“We're certainly planning that for right now,” Bowman said. “A lot happens between now and next October. You have to see how the season ends and how the summer goes. We'll have some new players on our team next year for sure, but we certainly planned on signing Seabrook with the current group here.”

Bowman has been negotiating with Seabrook's camp since before the start of the season. The process stepped itself up in the last week.

“We knew all along we wanted to sign Brent (because) he's a big part of what we've accomplished here,” Bowman said. “We were getting close to where you want to either get it done or set it aside. I guess we both realized it had gotten to that point and it motivated both of us to get it finished.”

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville was happy to learn he'll have one of his leaders around for at least five more years. Seabrook might not be as vocal as Toews, but Quenneville sees him as a key to the leadership group.

“Seabs is one guy that you feel him around every day,” Quenneville said. “Whether he says things or it's noticeable what he brings and how he is part of that group, whether there's fanfare or not, I don't think that's what he's looking for.

“Whether it's going out between periods, what's said between period or his preparation going into games, you like his approach.”