04/25/24
June 02, 2010
The Blackhawks are Back: As they sit with a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Chicago Blackhawks under owner Rocky Wirtz are no longer the penny-pinching, no-home-game-televising, payroll-borrowing mediocrity they were under his father William. Since taking the helm upon his father's 2007 death, Rocky Wirtz has quickly brought hockey back in Chitown. The team, which fell to 3,400 season ticket holders, has sold out 101 straight games and has 8,000 people on its season ticket waiting list. "Everyone's kind of in shock," said Chicagon Sun-Times sports columnist Rick Telander.
If Rocky is still able to afford them when they all hit UFA status in a few years, he'll have a good team for years to come.
The Blackhawks are in salary cap hell .
They have $62,959,542 committed in salary for next year, to only 14 players. Next year's cap number is expected to be around 58 - 58.5 million . Good luck with that.
Is that Brian Burke over in the corner, circling players names on the roster?
posted by tommybiden at 09:38 AM on June 02, 2010
Huh, it'd be nice to see that mentioned on ESPN when Barry Melrose creams his jeans about how they're going to be the new Red Wings.
posted by yerfatma at 10:36 AM on June 02, 2010
They have $62,959,542 committed in salary for next year, to only 14 players.
Oh. My. Freaking. God.
How much of that is going to just Hossa?
posted by NoMich at 12:48 PM on June 02, 2010
How much of that is going to just Hossa?
Hossa's salary for 2010-11 is $7,900,000, his cap hit is $5,275,000 .
Source: nhlscap.com
posted by tommybiden at 01:04 PM on June 02, 2010
The hawks are in serious cap trouble. They better do it this year because they will lose at least one big gun(I bet Kane) as just a cap move. Hossa is tied up with a 7 year contract. That will make him hard to move.
posted by Debo270 at 01:51 PM on June 02, 2010
7 years to Hossa? Yikes !!!
I can see that deal with Toews, Keith, Seabrook, but Hossa?
Hopefully they can find a way out of that one.
posted by cixelsyd at 02:49 PM on June 02, 2010
Hossa is tied up with a 7 year contract. That will make him hard to move.
Uh, no.
It's a TWELVE year contract, so they have 11 more years left.
It's front-loaded for the first 8 seasons, so it'll be easier to deal him in seasons 9-12.
*snicker*
posted by grum@work at 03:13 PM on June 02, 2010
Hossa has always exhibited unparalleled production in the playoffs, it only makes sense that they would want to lock him up to a long term deal. I still admire how he carried the Wings during the playoffs last year. Especially during the Cup finals. That one point really helped the Wings keep the series close.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 06:11 PM on June 02, 2010
Zing!
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 06:31 PM on June 02, 2010
I think I actually felt the heat from that burn through my keyboard.
posted by boredom_08 at 06:51 PM on June 02, 2010
Watching Crosby hoist the cup in Joe Louis cut me deep. Real deep.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 11:04 PM on June 02, 2010
Watching Crosby hoist the cup in Joe Louis cut me deep. Real deep.
Watching the Wings do it in the igloo the year before did the same to me.
Thanks for the correction grum. I thought it was longer then 8 and must have heard them say the first 8 years is where the $$ is. My bad.
posted by Debo270 at 10:38 AM on June 03, 2010
Blackhawks Song (We love the Hawks?) : youtube video: jump on the bandwagon !
posted by tommybiden at 11:08 AM on June 03, 2010
Watching Crosby hoist the cup in Joe Louis cut me deep. Real deep.
See, if the NHL put snipers in the rafters to take out the idiots that jump in front of the cameras during plays, like I wanted, we coulda taken care of that...
posted by MeatSaber at 01:45 PM on June 03, 2010
I can't believe that idea hasn't gained any traction
posted by tahoemoj at 04:28 PM on June 03, 2010
Not to take out Crosby, mind you...I hate the guy, but I'm not condoning his murder. No, have them take out the weasel-in-a-suit that handed the Cup off to him. Now, who amongst us can't get behind that idea?
posted by MeatSaber at 07:22 PM on June 03, 2010
The hawks are in serious cap trouble. They better do it this year because they will lose at least one big gun(I bet Kane) as just a cap move.
Kane isn't going anywhere. He, Toews, and Keith all signed multi-year extensions this season. They are the young core of the team. Bolland, Verstig, Sharp, Byfuglien. This is where the cap hit will come in. Not only that, but Niemi and Hjalmarsson are RFAs after this season and are grossly underpaid.
And as far as Hossa is concerned, that guy has been an absolute beast. many nights he is the best forward on the ice...for either team. He hasn't scored a lot of goals in the playoffs (he's been a bit snakebitten) but if not for him, the Blackhawks wouldn't be playing for that big shiny thing.
posted by willthrill72 at 10:19 PM on June 03, 2010
Hossa was real good the last 2 games.
I obviously hadn't watched Chicago enough during the playoffs to comment and had placed him in the floater/baggage category (next to Malkin and Gonchar).
He's +11 in the playoffs and tied with Zetterberg, that's pretty good company to be in. He was also a beast for Pittsburgh in the playoffs and his stats indicate he's money in big games.
The stat that is scary - he'll be 42 when the contract expires. How many forwards have been effective beyond 35?
posted by cixelsyd at 10:17 AM on June 04, 2010
He was also a beast for Pittsburgh in the playoffs and his stats indicate he's money in big games.
I take it you missed the cup finals last year. Hossa had one good year in the playoffs, that's it. Before that year he had scored a grand total of 35 points in 55 playoff games. Of course, I suppose that is fine considering all the cup victories his beastly play led to.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 12:23 PM on June 04, 2010
missed the cup finals last year
Maybe that's where I first got the opinion he was a floater - he was in Detroit.
With Pittsburgh he had 26 points in 20 games.
posted by cixelsyd at 02:26 PM on June 04, 2010
The scary part? They're a really young team. If Rocky is still able to afford them when they all hit UFA status in a few years, he'll have a good team for years to come.