Archive for July, 2009

Belated Minor Moves

July 7th, 2009 by Leigh Michael Dengis

In the slew of news surrounding the Blackhawks lately, I overlooked reporting a few minor transactions.

Yesterday, center Pascal Pelletier signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets to a one-year contract. The twenty-six year-old spent most of the season in Rockford where he tallied 55 points in 71 games. Pelletier was on the NHL roster for a total of 7 games, but was unable to show up on the score sheet in any of those games.

A few players were not given qualifying offers – left-winger Adam Berti, defenseman Tim Hambly, right-winger Adam Pineault, defenseman Jimmy Sharrow and defenseman Logan Stephenson. They are now considered unrestricted free agents. Also center Tim Brent, center Jonas Nordqvist and right-winger Pavel Vorobiev are unrestricted free agents, as well.

Bryan Bickell was tendered a qualifying offer. He’ll spend another season in Rockford, but may be one of the first choices to break the NHL roster in the case of injuries.

**In the Oranization page has been updated to reflect these changes**

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Barker Remains a ‘Hawk

July 6th, 2009 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Cam Barker re-signed with the Blackhawks to a three-year deal worth $9.25M. That is close to what I thought he may have signed for as a restricted free agent before this qualifying offer mess started. Barker could have made upwards of $5M per year if he opted to take his services to the open market.

What this says is that he wanted to stay with the organization. Players taking less money to play for the ‘Hawks seems to be a common trend among this year’s signings.

Dale Tallon is doing a good job cleaning up this mess.

No matter what the eventual outcome that is decided to between the league and the NHLPA, it will be near impossible to retain Kris Versteeg.

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Five Re-signed and the NHLPA Files Grievance

July 6th, 2009 by Leigh Michael Dengis

The Blackhawks re-signed five restricted free agents this afternoon – Troy Brouwer and Corey Crawford to two-year contracts, and Ben Eager, Colin Fraser and Aaron Johnson to one-year contracts. These re-singings happened on the same day that the league learned that the NHLPA filed grievance against the Chicago Blackhawks for the botched qualifying offers submitted to six players last week.

The good news is that four of the six players in question were in the group re-signed by the ‘Hawks, but Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker remain unsigned. It wasn’t certain that any of the five players signed today were going receive deals with the ‘Hawks. The fact that Chicago might lose the rights to either Versteeg or Barker forced the organization to lock-up cheaper alternatives.

If the league sides with the NHLP, both Versteeg and Barker will be treated as unrestricted free agents and will be able to sign with any team – Blackhawks included. That probably won’t happen in this case. The Players Association wants to punish the Blackhawks on a technicality – mailing the qualifying offers rather than using a currier or fax machine.

This won’t sit well the league, and I don’t expect them to let this issue go without a fight.

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At the Mercy of the NHLPA

July 5th, 2009 by Leigh Michael Dengis

The future of six of the Blackhawks’ restricted free agents – Versteeg, Barker, Johnson, Fraser, Eager and Brouwer – rests in the hands of the NHLPA. TSN is reporting that the league has concluded their investigation into the organization’s inability to send qualifying offers to the six players properly. The Players Association can make this an issue or let it go. Here is to hoping for the latter.

If the NHLPA finds that the qualifying offers aren’t valid, the ‘Hawks would lose the sole rights to negotiate with the players involved in the matter. This wouldn’t set the team back like I wrote a couple days when the news broke, but it would be a rather big blow.

If Chicago would like to retain the rights of any of the six players he would have to pay market value. Retaining both Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker would be impossible. With the amount of spending the Blackhawks have done this summer and the necessity to re-sign Toews, Keith and Kane next summer, Dale Tallon will be forced to alter his plan for the organization. The fact that the ‘Hawks would get nothing in return for these restricted free agents – if they were to walk – would hurt, as well.

It may not matter who dropped the ball on this one. Depending on how this plays out, Dale Tallon might be shown the door. He obviously wasn’t the person who mailed the offers out, but he shouldn’t let this happen under his watch.

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This Could be a Problem…

July 4th, 2009 by Leigh Michael Dengis

TSN is reporting that the Blackhawks may have made a mistake when submitting qualifying offers to a handful of players. They are Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Aaron Johnson and Troy Brouwer. More about the story can be read here.

The players listed above could become unrestricted free agents and sign with any team in the league. This would set the organization back.

If this story ends up having legs, it will be covered after the holiday weekend.

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Free Agency Begins!

July 1st, 2009 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Free agency started less than an hour ago. I will update this post throughout the day when a transaction is made concerning the Blackhawks.

11:45AM – Darren Dreger of TSN is ‘tweeting’ that Marian Hossa is close to signing with the Blackhawks… That would be awesome.

12:48PM – TSN is reporting that sources are telling Dreger that Hossa joining the ‘Hawks is a done deal. This is really exciting. Nothing official has been announced yet.

1:05PM – Bob McKenzie is comfirming what Dreger has been reporting thus far. He adds that it is a twelve-year deal (!!!!) worth $5M per year. Very long contract, but it’s freaking Hossa! Martin Havlat who?

1:06PM – Matt Walker signed with Tampa Bay… Four years at $1.7M.

1:15PM – TSN is reporting that the Hossa deal is worth $62M and is front-loaded. As amazing as this signing is, I hope it doesn’t hinder Tallon’s ability to re-sign Toews, Keith and Kane next season. Contracts will have to be moved.

1:23PM – Too much going on right now. TSN is now reporting that Tomas Kopecky, another Red Wing last season, signed with Chicago for two years. This rivlary will be intense next season.

2:24PM – It seems to be quiet right now. I’m going to take this opportunity to head out and run some errands. I’ll post any updates when I return.

4:19PM – I’m back. While I was away, Nikolai Khabibulin signed with the Oilers to a four-year deal worth $15M.

5:56PM – Sammy Pahlsson singed a three-year deal with Columbus worth $7.95M.

6:33PM – I’m done monitoring the intranet. I’ll tack on any later transactions today to the end of this post.

Other movement – John Madden, formerly of the Devils, signed a one-year contract with the Blackhawks where he will earn $2.75M. Martin Havlat has verbal agreement to play for the Wild.

**In the Oranization page has been updated to reflect these changes**

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