Posts Tagged ‘Antti Niemi’

Chicago’s net belongs to Corey Crawford

December 19th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Along with the announcement that Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane and Viktor Stalberg won’t lace up for Sunday night’s match against the Los Angeles Kings, Coach Quenneville stated that he will turn to Corey Crawford once again. It will be his third consecutive start, and his tenth start in the last 13 games for the Blackhawks. After Marty Turco was pulled 20 minutes and four goal into Monday’s game in Colorado, any residual goaltending controversy ended.

Going into the season there was always the chance Crawford would un-seat Turco, but I for one never gave thought it would ever happen. In my experience covering the Blackhawks and their prospects for three seasons, Crawford didn’t have the skill-set to be a starter at this level. He didn’t move well within the crease, and his rebound control left a lot to be desired. I had my apprehensions whether he’d be an adequate backup.

What we saw Friday night from the 25-year-old rookie in the 4-1 victory over the Red Wings was one of this better performances in his short career. He was quick, moved well from side-to-side, he didn’t give up any juicy rebounds and stopped 29 of the 30 shots faced. Detroit’s only tally happened after the puck took a generous bounce off the backboards, and Crawford couldn’t recover in time.

The starting gig is his to be lost.

Come season end, the Blackhawks’ brass will be faced with a similar problem last summer with Antti Niemi. Granted they won’t be faced with the payroll problems, as the salary cap ceiling is expected to rise again on top of the $4M is performance bonus penalties will be alleviated, but they will have a goaltender in their mid-20s with an expiring contract (RFA).

Don’t expect the same outcome, however. The Blackhawks have nothing in the pipeline that is anywhere close to being NHL-ready and I doubt Bowman will turn to the free agent pool keeping the goaltending carousel spinning. Crawford is the Blackhawks’ goaltender for the immediate future.

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Doug Wilson’s master plan comes full circle

September 1st, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Hockey player turned hockey analyst Nick Kypreos broke the news this afternoon that Antti Niemi will sign with the San Jose Sharks as soon as tomorrow. Early reports have Niemi signed to a one-year deal worth $2 million. More details will come out soon enough regarding his contract, but my initial reaction to the numbers at hand is Niemi could have had a similar deal in Chicago.

He can’t be too pleased with the job his agent Bill Zito did this off-season. He failed to acknowledge the 2010 goaltending market. It was oversaturated, and goalies made far from top dollar. Zito postured and claimed to have his client’s best interest all summer, but went into the arbitration hearing with an asking price well upward of $3 million. When Niemi was awarded $2.75 million by the arbitrator, it was easy for Stan Bowman to walk away knowing he had Marty Turco locked up as Plan B.

Niemi leaves a familiar setting behind with the organization that brought him into the NHL, as well as a good situation for any goaltender. He would start over 60 games for the Blackhawks, with one of the best defensive teams in the league playing in front of him every night. In San Jose, Niemi will split time in net with Antero Niittymaki – who also has a $2 million salary-cap hit – for a team built around scoring. His open market value as an unrestricted free agent in 2011 would have been higher if he stayed in Chicago.

Once again, I digress. Doug Wilson’s latest act as general manager of the Sharks was the second part of hopefully a two part plan to screw over the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. First was the $3.5 million offer-sheet to Niklas Hjalmarsson, and now this. His master plan came full circle. Wilson has a Stanley Cup winning goaltender at a reasonable price tag.

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Blackhawks walk away from Antti Niemi

August 2nd, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Niemi and the Cup (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The writing was on the wall when the Blackhawks opted to match San Jose’s $14 million ($3.5 million per) offer sheet to Niklas Hjalmarsson. It was going to be tough for Stan Bowman to keep Antti Niemi on the payroll as a result, but you can’t say the man didn’t try. Post offer sheet, Bowman traded Marty Reasoner to the Panthers, and re-signed Jack Skille and Bryan Bickell to minimal deals in an attempt to have enough cap space to accommodate Niemi. I’m under the impression if Niemi really wanted to stay with Chicago, he and his agent would have been more amendable then they were.

According to various sources, Niemi’s camp sought out a one-year deal well above $3 million going into the arbitration hearing, and they were awarded a favorable one-year deal worth $2.75 million by the arbitrator. That number would have handcuffed Bowman when it came to the Blackhawks’ roster, so he walked. He was unable to pull off a sign-and-trade because other clubs didn’t like the deal either.

Enter Marty Turco. The Blackhawks probably started looking at his as a viable option weeks ago, but would have preferred to keep Niemi around at the right price. When the decision had to be made, signing Turco to a one-year deal worth $1.3 million worked best for the Blackhawks salary cap issue, so it eventually became easy for the Bowman to walk away from Niemi. He freed up 1.45 million, and they will be able to field a full 22-man roster.

There will actually be position battles taking place at training camp. Low salaries won’t dictate who makes the NHL roster come fall. We might actually see guys like Kyle Beach and Shawn Lalonde as soon as October. Also, all signs point to Corey Crawford as back-up goaltender.

Before you grab a pitchfork and/or torch on your way to Stan Bowman’s doorstep, think twice before you blame him for disbanding your Chicago Blackhawks. First, lynch mobs are no longer in fashion. Also, he’s just working within the parameters of the current collective bargaining agreement. Last, it’s a recent league-wide trend that goaltenders don’t win Stanley Cups – defensemen do. In other words, don’t hate the player, hate the game.

Changes have been reflected on our In the Organization page above.

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Now we wait on Bowman and Co.

August 1st, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

We are somewhere in the middle of the 48-hour window that the Blackhawks have before a decision needs to be made regarding Antti Niemi and the one-year, $2.75 million contract he was awarded in arbitration. The number is a little higher than expected, but it’s do-able. Once again, the Blackhawks can accept the deal, move him via trade or walk away from it making him an unrestricted free agent. Expect Bowman and company to take their time before announcing their decision whether to keep or move the 26-year-old netminder.

If the Blackhawks opt to keep Niemi, they might have to move yet another body to field a roster of 20 to 21 players. However, there have been rumors that Marty Turco has a tentative deal in place at a cheaper price tag. With Turco in net, the organization would have more wiggle room with the roster.

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Blackhawks on hold as they wait for Niemi’s number

July 29th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Antti Niemi and his agent Bill Zito met with the Blackhawks in Toronto to plead their respective cases in front of an arbitrator because they were unable to come to an agreement before yesterday’s hearing. A ruling is expected to be made on Saturday. From what I’ve been reading Niemi’s camp has their hearts set on a number above a $3 million cap hit. Knowing the Blackhawks’ cap situation, it becomes hard to believe all the rhetoric that Zito fed the media regarding his client’s desire to play for Chicago next season.

In Stan Bowman’s conference call earlier in the evening, he said:

“Depending on where it comes in, it’s going to dictate what we have to do. We’re going to try to make it work, but it’s hard – we’re kind of playing a guessing game and I don’t want to speculate because I don’t know where it’s going to be.

“There are numbers that we have in mind which would make it more easy to fit him in versus really difficult to fit him in. We’re just going to have to wait and see.”

The impartial arbitrator will have to either pick the number the Blackhawks submitted, the number Niemi’s camp submitted or choose a salary somewhere in between. If the arbitrator sides in favor of the 26-year-old goaltender, it will likely force Bowman and company to move on. The Blackhawks will have 48 hours to sign Niemi, trade him or walk, thus making him an unrestricted free agent.

Anything above a $2.5 million cap hit could be detrimental to the Blackhawks ability to field a roster of twenty skaters and two goaltenders. It wouldn’t surprise me if Bowman had deals already in place if Niemi’s price tag is too high. There have been rumors floating around that Bowman has already talked to Jose Theodore and Marty Turco, and that suitors have called regarding Niemi’s availability. In one last-ditch-effort to keep their goaltender around, the Blackhawks could move Tomas Kopecky and his $1.2 million cap hit.

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Bryan Bickell inks three-year deal

July 23rd, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Stan Bowman can cross another item off his to-do list by re-signing forward Bryan Bickell to a three-year deal worth $1,625,000. He is slated to make $500,000 in 2010-11, $525,000 in 2011-12 and $600,000 in 2012-13, which is a cap hit of $541,666. It’s a small raise compared to the $500,000 Bickell earned last season, but he’s guaranteed a spot on the Blackhawks’ roster because of his price tag. I thought he was going to get $550,000 per year. Every penny counts.

Bickell could have a Ladd-like role down the road, but should begin the season on the fourth line. In fourteen regular season games Hawks last year, Bickell had three goals with one assist. He also skated in four post-season matches.

Next, Bowman and company have Jordan Hendry and Antti Niemi to take care of. Hendry will get a deal done with the same cap hit he had last season ($625,000), which should be possible because the Hawks didn’t tender him a qualifying offer making him an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

With Niemi, on the other hand, it’s difficult to foresee what will happen. Bowman is making the extra effort to re-sign his goaltender by signing guys like Bickell to minimum deals, and trading away inexpensive pieces such as Marty Reasoner. Anything over a cap hit of $2,500,000 could force the Blackhawks to walk, or trade Tomas Kopecky ($1,200,000).

Two more signed

The Hawks signed restricted free agent Nathan Davis and free agent forward Hugh Jessiman to one-year deals worth $500,000. Both will spend the 2010-11 season with Rockford where they are to earn significantly less (Davis – $75,000; Jessiman – $105,000) in the AHL as they have two-way deals. Jessiman was selected 12th overall in the 2003 entry draft, and has yet to play a game in the NHL.

Changes have been reflected on our In the Organization page above.

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Bowman clears more cap space by trading Marty Reasoner

July 22nd, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

In an effort to free up enough cap space to re-sign restricted free agent Antti Niemi, Stan Bowman traded Marty Reasoner and his $1,150,000 cap hit to the Panthers. In return, the Hawks received 29-year-old journeyman, Jeff Taffe ($550,000 cap hit). Bowman’s latest move is nothing more than a salary dump. Taffe should play most of the season with Rockford, and he may make a rare appearance with the Blackhawks on a bottom line if needed.

Today’s trade is a tell-tale sign that Bowman is going to re-sign Niemi. Hopefully they can come to terms before the scheduled arbitration hearing on July 29. As it stands right now, the Blackhawks have sixteen players locked-up with $138,410 cap space.

Cristobal Huet’s ($5,625,000) cap hit will come off the books before the season starts, but the organization will have his contract count against them till they can send it to Rockford. The collective bargaining agreement allows any team to go over the cap ceiling by 10%, and the Hawks will use that space to re-sign Jordan Hendry and Bryan Bickell on top of Niemi.

The 2010-11 Blackhawks’ cap ceiling ($59,400,000) plus the 10% summer cushion ($5,940,000) equals to a summer ceiling of $65,340,000. So the Blackhawks have $6,013,410 cap space with the summer cushion. As I mentioned above, Bowman will use this space until he needs to have his roster legal by opening night. When you take out Huet’s cap hit from the equation, the Blackhawks actually have $5,763,410 to work with.

Hawks re-sign Evan Brophey

The Blackhawks re-signed 23-year-old center Evan Brophey to a one-year deal worth $500,000. He played 79 games in Rockford last season with 14 goals and 17 assists. Going into the off-season there is no way I would have thought Brophey would crack the Blackhawks roster out of training camp, but a cap friendly hit might have an effect on where he plays come fall.

Changes have been reflected on our In the Organization page above.

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Doug Wilson is a very very bad man!

July 13th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

The decision was made yesterday to match San Jose’s four-year $14 million offer sheet to Niklas Hjalmarsson. That will be a $3.5 million cap hit. I still think it’s a little much for the 23-year old Swede, but the Blackhawks do have a couple over valued contracts on the books that overshadow this one. If you do compare it to other deals signed by free agent defensemen this summer, Hjalmarsson’s contract doesn’t look so bad.

As expected, the Hawks are in a tough spot (again) in regards to the salary cap. With fifteen players under contract next season, the organization has only $113,410 (source: cap geek) to spend on five to seven more players to fill out the roster. Teams do have the luxury to go up to 10% over the cap ceiling in the off-season. Antti Niemi’s arbitration hearing is July 29, and it appears as though the Hawks will need to use the extra space this summer until Cristobal Huet’s contract is removed from the mix. If that were done today, the Blackhawks would have $5,738,410 salary-cap space to work with.

Signing Hjalmarsson to an offer sheet, and forcing Bowman’s hand was a tactic that is Machiavellian in nature. The Blackhawks’ cap issues are well known around the league, and San Jose general manager Doug Wilson did all he could to screw the reigning Stanley Cup Champions the best he could within the parameters of the collective bargaining agreement. It’s an evil, yet brilliant strategy. Wilson was able to set Hjalmarsson’s price tag, and now Bowman and company will find it hard to keep Niemi around as a result.

If the Blackhawks opted not to match San Jose’s offer, the Sharks would have added a solid, smart and young defenseman to their roster for relatively little. It was a win-win situation for Wilson.

Coaching staff set

The void left by John Torchetti was filled yesterday by Mike Kitchen, and Mike Haviland signed a contract extension to remain with the Blackhawks as an assistant coach. Kitchen was on Joel Quenneville’s coaching staff when he was in St. Louis years ago.

Changes have been reflected on our In the Organization page above.

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An Antti Niemi puff piece

June 8th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Antti Niemi (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A little over two years ago, then general manager Dale Tallon signed Antti Niemi, a 24-year old Finnish netminder, as an unrestricted free agent. That summer Cristobal Huet signed a lucrative four-year deal to help carry the goaltending with the oft injured Nikolai Khabibulin for the Blackhawks, so Antti Niemi was reassigned to Rockford, Illinois to play for the IceHogs, their AHL affiliate. It may not have been and ideal situation for Neimi, but the year he spent in Rockford getting acclimated to the North American style of ice hockey was beneficial to his development.

Khabibulin was not re-signed in the off-season, leaving an opening for Niemi to start the 2009-10 season in Chicago as Huet’s backup. He beat out Corey Crawford in training camp and shutout the Florida Panthers in his first start of the season. The Blackhawks’ brass never looked back.

Head coach Joel Quenneville became more confident with Niemi as the season progressed, and flirted with the idea of handing him the No. 1 job as Huet struggled down the stretch. On March 28th, Quenneville was tired of making subtle advances, and he went all-in. Antti Niemi was the guy the Blackhawks were going to battle with in the post-season, and Cristobal Huet was to ride the pine for the second year in a row. He has played all of 19 minutes and 56 seconds in relief of Niemi in the first game of the conference semi-final series against the Canucks since the move was made.

Niemi has been everything the Blackhawks needed him to be in the post-season. He boasts a 15-6 playoff record, and is one win away from hoisting the Stanley Cup in his rookie year. That is one win away from having his name mentioned in the same breath as Cam Ward (2006), Patrick Roy (1986) and Ken Dryden (1971) as other goalies who have taken their teams to the Promised Land in their rookie seasons. All three players mentioned won the Conn Smythe (post-season MVP) that season, and Antti Niemi is one of the Blackhawks in the running for the award this year.

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Dale moves on, legacy alive and well in Chicago

May 18th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

It was July 14, 2009 when Dale Tallon was removed as the Blackhawks general manager in favor of Stan Bowman. Tallon quietly served as a senior adviser of hockey operations to the Blackhawks this year. Yesterday, Tallon was hired as general manager of the Florida Panthers. With the way his tenure as general manager ended in Chicago, I’m pleased to see him get another gig with the Panthers. As the Blackhawks play Game #2 of the Western Conference Finals in San Jose tonight, we should remember that Dale is the true architect of this team. Not John McDonough or little Stan Bowman, and the guys in the locker room know this.

Jonathan Toews said this of Dale Tallon yesterday:

“…when I talk to him I always remind him we’re in here thinking about him and we don’t forget the contributions he’s made to this team and this locker room.”

Before Tallon became the general manager in 2005, he spent over twenty years in the organization as a player, in the booth as a broadcaster (radio and television) and in other front office duties. The legacy he will most will remembered for is drafting Jonathan Toews third overall in 2006 and Patrick Kane first overall in 2007. I’ll remember Tallon for his keen eye for talent. Great examples of this ability can be seen in the trades to bring in Patrick Sharp (from Philadelphia for Matt Ellison and 3rd round draft pick) and Kris Versteeg (from Boston for Brandon Bochenski), selected Niklas Hjalmarsson in the 4th round (108th overall) of the 2005 draft and brought in Antti Niemi from Finland in 2008..

The Chicago Blackhawks became a desired location for players because of Dale Tallon. The free agent acquisition of Marian Hossa last summer is a terrific example of the turnaround the franchise experienced four years after Tallon became general manager. Four years ago, a player with the caliber of Hossa would never think about signing with the Blackhawks. Back then the Blackhawks were arguably the worst organization in the NHL, but last November Forbes rated them as the seventh most valuable team in the league. Tallon built a team worth watching in Chicago. A team John McDonough could sell to the masses.

Before the 2008-09-season, McDonough brought hockey legend Scotty Bowman into the fold. Scotty was the father of then assistant general manager Stan Bowman. It was a matter of time before Tallon was shown the door, and management patiently waited for the chance to remove Dale as general manager. That opportunity came last summer when qualifying offers to restricted free agents (Versteeg, Barker, Brouwer, etc.) were improperly filled. It’s a job that general managers don’t carry out, but it happened under Dale’s watch. He took the blame, cleaned up the mess and was removed as general manager days later. Little Stan Bowman was promoted.

There were reports stating that McDonough and Tallon butt heads often regarding who was really steering the ship, and that McDonough resented the attention Tallon received for building a team that made it to the Western Conference Finals last year. Through it all, Dale Tallon was nothing less than a class act. Although it isn’t entirely his fault, Tallon will get most of the blame for the impending off-season salary-cap issues.

Good luck in Florida, Dale.

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