The Chicago Blackhawks' recent decision to reject a one-year arbitration award for goaltender Antti Niemi marked yet another example of that club’s limited cap space costing them another key player from their championship roster.
Had Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman the available money he undoubtedly would’ve avoided arbitration with Niemi and probably inked the Finnish netminder to a multi-year deal worth around $3.5 million per season.
Sadly, a slow-rising salary cap combined with the previous management’s overpayment of defenseman Brian Campbell and goalie Cristobal Huet cost the Blackhawks the goaltender that backstopped them to their first Stanley Cup championship in nearly 50 years, forcing Bowman to replace Niemi with the more affordable Marty Turco.
Niemi became the eighth player Bowman has been forced to dump due to salary cap constraints. Dustin Bfuglien, Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, Colin Fraser, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and Adam Burish were also shipped out since mid-June.
Blackhawks fans are contenting themselves with the fact the core of the roster, which includes superstars Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith, remains under contract, and point to the opportunity these open roster spots will provide for promising players like Jack Skille, Kyle Beach, Corey Crawford and recently acquired Viktor Stalberg to make their mark.
Still, the loss of so many key players is bound to have an adverse effect upon team chemistry next season.
It would be worthwhile to recall how detrimental the salary cap has been upon the rosters of recent Cup champions.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, Cup champions in 2004, were the first to feel the cap’s bite when the new CBA was implemented following a season-killing lockout.
With a cap of only $39.5 million entering 2005-06 the Lightning lost key players like goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin and forward Cory Stillman, who proved nearly impossible to replace. Their absence became a contributing factor to the Lightning’s inability to defend their title.
The Carolina Hurricanes won the Cup in 2006 but would miss the playoffs the following year in part due to the loss of Mark Recchi, Doug Weight, Matt Cullen and Aaron Ward to free agency.
It was a similar story for the Anaheim Ducks, Cup champs in 2007 who were eliminated from the first round of the 2008 playoffs in part because of the loss of Dustin Penner, Andy McDonald and Ilya Bryzgalov to cap constraints.
Cup champions weren’t the only ones feeling the cap pinch. The Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators were Cup finalists between 2004 and 2007. Cap constraints were among the reasons for their inability to maintain Cup-contending rosters.
The Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins faced each other in back-to-back Cup Finals in 2008 and 2009 but the cap would bite deeply into their rosters in 2009-10.
Lost from the Penguins roster was Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, whose absence adversely affected their defensive depth, while the Wings lost firepower when Marian Hossa signed with Chicago and Jiri Hudler headed to Russia.
Both clubs were bounced from the second round of the 2010 playoffs in part because of the inability to adequately replace those players.
None of the aforementioned teams however lost as many players in one offseason as the Blackhawks have this summer.
It won’t get much better for Chicago next summer.
The ‘Hawks currently have over $42.3 million committed to just 10 players for 2011-12, with defenseman Brent Seabrook, forwards Tomas Kopecky and Troy Brouwer, along with Turco, Stalberg , Crawford and Skille due for new contracts.
Even if the cap should increase again next season the Blackhawks could find it tight to keep all those players and still have enough to ice a full roster for 2011-12.
Given their core of talent the Blackhawks should remain a playoff contender next season but their fans should savor their team’s championship this year as they’re unlikely to see it again in the near future.
