The Good and the Bad

by Killion on May 3, 2009 2:51 PM CDT

Lets start things off with the bad - Toews might be hurting after all. It's like a game of telephone, but The Sun Times relays some info via The Toronto Globe & Mail (without providing a link) that one of Toews' shoulders is so bad that he can't lift his arm. The injury supposedly came during the first round and could explain his output in the last few games.

The rumors of a shoulder injury are everywhere now but I still didn't think Toews looked bad in last night's game. We'll see.

The Canucks are hurting too though - In the same article there's another rumor about Sundin playing with an ankle injury that should sidelining him for weeks, rather than just the two games he missed in the last series.

Sami Salo might be missing some more time for the Canucks too. Salo looked hurt after scoring his goal in last night's game and didn't play another shift. Now it's reported he didn't fly with the team to Chicago and is staying behind to get a "lower body injury" looked at. Possibly the same injury that kept him out of the final game of the Blues series. Losing Salo would be a pretty big blow to the Canucks, he has 2 goals in this series already and is one of their better puck moving blue liners.

Lets close it out on a positive jam though - Back to the Sun Times article - it looks like J.H.C. might be around for a while. Rumors have the team working on an 8-to-10 year contract for the bearded one. Yes, please. I don't expect we'll hear much more til the playoffs are done.

OK - enjoy your day.

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Wow an 8 to 10 year contract?

Yes hes had a hell of a year but with his past injuries I don’t know if its worth committing that many years to him, if the price is right than yes but keeping the core of this team intact is much more vital at this point

Lets Go Hawks!

by CubsBall2202 on May 3, 2009 3:42 PM CDT reply actions

Wow

Interesting stuff I really hope the shoulder injury rumor isn’t true and the J.H.C. deal would be huge kind of scary though considering how much cap room that will take up.

by Shooby34 on May 3, 2009 3:45 PM CDT reply actions

8-10 years?

he’s amazing but look at brian campbell’s big contract. takes up a lot of cap space.

by heyrocky on May 3, 2009 3:49 PM CDT reply actions

agreed

I’ll pass on Havlat for anything more than 2 years. He was the Hawk equivalent of Moises Alou for us Cubs fans. Three year deal for big money and only shows up for the final year…I know he was hurt and all for much of that time but that’s another reason not to commit that kind of $ and duration of time to him. You lock up young players like Toews or Keith/Seabrook to those types of long term deals. I’ll pass on Havlat unless you can get someone to take Campbell’s and/or Huet’s contract and resign Khabby to a short term deal for lesser money and bring Crawford or Niemi up to backup. Or you might be able to get someone like Gaborik to take a one year deal while he tries to rebuild his durability/career before looking for a multi-year deal. Hossa will be a FA as well…ATL may shop Kovalchuk…perhaps you can get them to take Campbell. Plus you have Keith, Seabrook, and Kane who will need to be signed to long term deals soon. Can’t lose those guys for Havlat if it comes down to cap room. 2 years sure I’m ok with it for whatever the money is…otherwise pass.

by Crease Monkey on May 3, 2009 4:15 PM CDT reply actions

Toews

I don’t know about that injury, I just watched the highlights that yahoo provides and a few times Toews lifts his arms up, even when he didn’t need to. After plays are completed, or on the Kane goal Toews jumps into the celebration with his arms raised, so if there is an injury, which there very well could be, I don’t think it is as severe as he can’t lift up his arms. Here’s to hoping he doesn’t have that injury, and that two nights off instead of one will give Captain Marvel a little more rest.

by Kyle McGann on May 3, 2009 5:07 PM CDT reply actions

8-10 years

is probably being talked about exactly for cap reasons. Very similar to what Detroit has done to keep their big players while keeping their cap number as low as possible. I think the cap hit is the average over the contract so if you tack on a bunch of years at $1 mil or something like that at the end, you can front-load the deal so JHC gets paid, say, $7 mil next year, but the cap hit would be more like $5 mil.
Could be way off on this, but I kind of remember reading reasoning like this on some of the Dead Wing deals.

by stickhandler on May 3, 2009 5:07 PM CDT reply actions

yeah

that’s true to an extent but say in the case of Zetterberg he gets

• 2009-10 — $7.4 million
• 2010-11 — $7.75 million
• 2011-12 — $7.75 million
• 2012-13 — $7.75 million
• 2013-14 — $7.5 million
• 2014-15 — $7.5 million
• 2015-16 — $7.5 million
• 2016-17 — $7.5 million
• 2017-18 — $7 million
• 2018-19 — $3.35 million
• 2019-20 — $1 million
• 2020-21 — $1 million

for an average of $6.08 million a year…and he’s nearly 29 right now so you know DET will be taking his cap hit even when he’s likely retired. I think anything longer than 2 years on Havlat will hurt this franchise down the road unless they get Toews and Keith and kane and some of the other young players taking huge discounts to stay in Chicago. That Campbell deal is going to be a killer too.

by Crease Monkey on May 3, 2009 8:07 PM CDT up reply actions

More cap

JHC is a $6 mil cap hit, so if they pull this deal off it lowers his plus you’ve got almost $7 mil more coming off from Khabby. Much as I’d love to see otherwise, I see no way that Khabby gets re-signed. The only way would be a 1 year deal and there’s no way he’d accept that given what he’s doing this season and what he’ll be worth in free agency. I’d be shocked if your goalies for next year aren’t Huet and whoever wins the competition between Crawford and Niemi.
Kane, Toews, and Keith come up at the end of next year and they’re going to need all the cap room they can get.

by stickhandler on May 3, 2009 5:17 PM CDT reply actions

Off topic

I’m probably not the only one who was watching the game, but the Ducks/Red Wings game went into triple overtime before the Ducks scored the game-winning goal. Crazy.

"He shows up every day to play, he plays hard every day, and he shows up to beat your butt." ~Ozzie Guillen on AJ Pierzynski, 3-17-09

R.I.P. Harry Kalas 4-13-09

by HappyHuman on May 3, 2009 5:53 PM CDT reply actions

We should make no deal suntil after the post season

1. Havlat is made of glass. While he has had a great season for us this year, time to let him fly. The risk reward is too heavily weighted toward risk.

2. We should sign Khabi to a 3-4 year deal instead. We need a good mentor for whomever will replace him. We also owe him for the years of sub 3.00GAA he gave us with no team in front of him. We also do not want him going to Detroit.

3. I doubt Toews is as bad as the Sun Times reports.

Just my 2c.

by Return of the Roar on May 3, 2009 7:39 PM CDT reply actions

huet

We have too much money tied up in Huet to re-sign Khabby. Unless we trade Huet, of course. But I agree a 8-10 year deal is too risky for someone like Havlat. At most, I would go 4 years and hope he takes a discount to help pay for Keith, Kane, and Toews

by DemonHawk on May 3, 2009 9:17 PM CDT up reply actions

enough w/ the habby talk

seriously guys, this is it. he’s not getting re-signed—-as long as he doesn’t shit the bed from here on out he is going to make some other team pay for a 3-4 year deal for mega bucks. Next year=Huet, so get used to it. I am not liking this talk of a long-term deal for havlat either. (1) this is the first year he’s done anything for us, leading to (2) susceptible to the injury bug, (3) kane/toews/kieth/seabs shoudl get the 10 year deals rather than havlat. yeah havlat is great, but come on, one of beech, skille, and aliu should be able to step up, right?

by illinikc33 on May 3, 2009 8:30 PM CDT reply actions

Of those three,

I think Skille’s opportunity to be a difference maker for the Hawks has come and gone. I think they’re just hoping he continues to rack up points in the AHL so they can trade him for something of value.

by antbogey on May 4, 2009 7:24 AM CDT up reply actions

I’m not a fan of crazy long contracts for anyone. But without Havlat this year, we would not right now be looking at Game 3 in the 2nd round of the playoffs, plain and simple. If we could sign him for 4 or 5 years, with discount, I’d be ecstatic.

To think that Beech, Skille or Aliu—or anyone currently within the organization—could step up and fill the roster with even half the skill of Havlat is misguided, to put it kindly. I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong in the future, but right now Skille isn’t even a top-9 forward, and Beech and Aliu are at least 2 or 3 years away from showing what they might be capable of … and however valuable they might be, they won’t be players of Havlat’s caliber. I think it’s likelier that these guys are Brouwers and Byfugliens, perhaps with better finishing potential.

by ChicoMaki on May 4, 2009 9:55 AM CDT up reply actions

I don't think

anyone thinks Aliu or Beech are going to step in for Havlat’s production, it’s a matter of Havlat vs what else is out there… ie free agents or trade. Hossa and Gaborik are free agents that I know of off of the top of my head and I’m sure there are others. ATL was considering dealing Kovalchuk at the deadline among others. I’d definitely rather have Hossa than Havlat, Gaborik is more talented than Havlat but he’s also as injury prone. We’re all speculating of course it all depends on the actual length of the contract. 8-10 years is insane for Havlat no matter how much the money is strung out. Unless Campbell can be moved I’d have to pass on Havlat for anything more than 2 years at say $6 mill a year.

by Crease Monkey on May 4, 2009 2:46 PM CDT up reply actions

Kovie for Campbell?

If that deal could be pulled off I think I might wet myself. It would be sick to think what Kovalchuk’s numbers could be with the talent he’d be surrounded by. Plus, he’s young and would be one of very few players that I think could fill the void left by Havlat. The only problem would be that Kovalchuk, historically, is severely allergic to defense.

by stickhandler on May 4, 2009 2:53 PM CDT up reply actions

Salo going down is huge.

If he ends up missing a few games, I’d say this series shifts dramatically into the Hawks favor.

Got more soul than a sock with a hole.

by chrome on May 4, 2009 12:49 PM CDT reply actions

CSN SportsNite on Toews

Said that Toews denied the rumor about an upper body injury and “flapped his arms around” (their words) in the locker room to prove he’s fine.

"He shows up every day to play, he plays hard every day, and he shows up to beat your butt." ~Ozzie Guillen on AJ Pierzynski, 3-17-09

R.I.P. Harry Kalas 4-13-09

by HappyHuman on May 4, 2009 6:49 PM CDT reply actions

can't remember

who it was…,maybe D.Pang but one of the analysts were sort of implying they thought it could be a slight concussion…which we all can also be code for “upper body injury”. No one is going to say for sure until after the series is over…we all know that.

by Crease Monkey on May 4, 2009 10:44 PM CDT up reply actions

Crazy

We call him Jesus and yet so many people are ok with seeing him leave after this season? That is surprising. Everyone has made good points on the cap hit and the injury proneness (if I may invent a word), I understand that, but this team takes a step back without him on the roster. He had almost singlehandedly carried this team through stretches of the regular season (not to even mention game 1 of the first round). Like some posts mentioned above, when I read about an 8-10 year extension, the first thing I thought of was the Scum deal for Zetterburg. I don’t care about his previous years in a Hawks sweater (or street clothes just as often), the original signing has paid off in just this year alone, and perhaps I am being optimistic, but I think his production has more to do with his health than being in a contract year. I will be the first to celebrate if they get an extension worked out with him.

and P.S. Khabby is gone after these playoffs……and the sun will still rise.

by Geoffhawk on May 5, 2009 11:52 AM CDT reply actions