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Blackhawks Will Need Some Salary Cap Magic To Fit Teravainen

There has been much talk recently of Finnish center Teuvo Teravainen joining the Blackhawks for the remainder of the season. Teravainen has been playing in Liiga for Jokerit but the team was eliminated from the playoffs on March 16, 2014. There is still a chance that Teravainen could play for Finland in the World Championships but from the sound of Coach Joel Quenneville’s comments, it would seem the Blackhawks expect him sooner than that.

The problem now becomes how to fit his salary under the NHL Salary Cap. The Blackhawks have $52,489.00 in cap space available according to www.CapGeek.com . Teravainen’s cap hit is $925,000.00 for the 2013-14 season, so obviously the Blackhawks will need to move salary to accommodate him barring the need for an emergency call up due to a long term injury. The only way that I can see the Blackhawks being able to do this would be to reassign goaltender Antti Raanta to the Rockford IceHogs and recall Jason LaBarbera.

Raanta’s salary cap hit is $925,000.00. Goaltender Jason LaBarbera, currently playing for the IceHogs, has a $1,000,000.00 cap hit that is already included in total salary cap for the team due to his contract being “buried”. If this is possible without ramifications that I am unaware of regarding buried contracts, then this may be the way to get Teravainen with the Blackhawks. I would doubt that Teravainen would forego playing for his country in the World Championships if he were simply coming to North America to play for the IceHogs in the AHL.

All of this remains to be seen, but given the excitement of the fan base and the repeated comments by the organization, Teravainen coming to North America seems more likely than not at this time. Let Teuvo Watch 2014 commence.

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