Posted by moy23 on 8/2/2011 9:53:00 AM (view original):
More evidence Chicago hockey bloggers are idiots - John Jaeckel (hockeybuzz.com) predicts Chicago wins the Stanley Cup this season. Dream on JJ.... Dream on.
I thought you agreed with most of what he said? :-P He's an idiot. This is a guy who once claimed that if the Hawks lost Brouwer and Kopecky this off-season they would become a non-playoff team.
I've given hockeybuzz.com a chance over the last few months and have had a very hard time reading some of their bloggers. They either can't write, don't know what they're talking about or both.
As for Sharpie, the interesting part of the deal is the term. The Blackhawks now have at least 17 players locked up for the next two seasons, with 12 locked up for the next 3. That includes every single core member of the team. This is a group that is very good and are proven winners. I don't think it's a terrible strategy on the Hawks part to keep those guys together and try and retool the bottom third of the roster every summer.
In a salary cap world where keeping teams together has become increasingly difficult, would you rather your team search for top line players every off-season in order to plug big holes or have to sign 5-6 depth guys to support your Stanley Cup winning core?
The other interesting thing is that many of the young prospects the Hawks have will have time to mature and make it to the NHL before the contracts of the core players expire. That is what is probably the most important part of getting all the core guys locked up.
Toews, Kane, Sharp, Hossa, Bolland, Frolik, Keith, Seabrook, Hammer and Crawford are all young enough, and have enough seasons left on their deals to allow the likes of Beach, Morin, Kruger, Smith, the Hayes brothers, McNeill, Olsen, Lalonde and many others to mature and come in and fill those "bottom-half-of-the-roster" spots for another serious run or two at a Stanley Cup as a top contender.
There are a couple of things Stan Bowman has done well here. He has kept a winning core which I doubt anyone will dispute is a good enough core to win a Cup together, and he has stockpiled several prospects who project to be solid NHL players at various points of the next 1-3 seasons. He has positioned his team in a favorable position both from a talent development and salary cap perspective. Now it's up to the coaching staff and players to go out and play up to their potential.