Regroup and Recapture the Cup. After a nerve-racking season the Chicago Blackhaeks need to regroup and recapture the Stanley Cup. Lets being with who’s locked in for next season; Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Dave Bolland, Bryan Bickell, Brian Campbell, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Nick Leddy, and John Scott who are sure to be in the Blackhawks lineup next year. We all expect Toews to wear the ‘C’, Keith and Sharp to wear the ‘A’. Giving the team some solid captains on the ice. Five of six ‘D’ positions are locked in with Keith, Seabrook. Campbell, Hjalmarsson and Leddy. While 6 of 12 forwards are locked in for another season. Ontop of this the Blackhawks have Huet, Kruger, Smith, Beach, Morin, Paradis, Pirri, DiDomenico, Hayes, Makarov, Bollig, Stanton, Danis-Pepin, Lalonde, Olsen, Lavin, and Carlsson have two-way contracts. To help Toews, Kane, Sharp, Hossa, Bolland, and Bickell the Blackhawks are in need of resigning a few key guys on offense. With $8,385,331 in cap space, the Blackhawks have another interesting season ahead of them. The two biggest names are Tomas Kopecky($1.2M) and Troy Brouwer($1.025M). My reason for signing back those two simply because of they are Stanley Cup winners and they have the experience the Blackhawks need. Also there is the season acquisition Micheal Frolik($1.27M). My reason for signing Frolik back has to be his solid playoff performance with the Blackhawks. Frolik had 2 goals, 3 assists and a +3 rating. Ryan Johnson($500,000) is a solid 3rd or 4th liner and a great Power Play guy. This is something the Blackhawks need. Theres also Viktor Stalberg($850,000), Jake Dowell($525,000), and Fernando Pisani($500,000). To resign Viktor Stalberg, I think he needs to find his identity first. My reason to resign Jake Dowell is his physicality, which is something the Blackhawks lack. Fernando Pisani can add veteran status to the team if he is resigned. Just before the trade deadline the Blackhawks acquired Chris Campoli($1.4M) from the Ottawa Senators. He became one of the guys on the blueline quickly. I believe he is a huge factor in this offseason. Resigning him and boosting up the D is a top priority in my opinion. Last but not least, the guys in net. After a fantastic season, Rookie Corey Crawford($800,000) took the starting job away from Veteran Marty Turco($1,300,000). Crawford is surely to be a Blackhawk next season, but thats what I thought with Antti Niemi. Crawford had a fantastic season he played a total of 57 games played, with 55 of those games he started (3337 Minutes). Corey had a 2.30 Goals Against Average during the regular season. Corey had a record of 33-18-6 with 4 Shutouts. He faced 1545 shoots and only allowed 128 goals. Corey had a GAA of 2.21 against the Vancouver Canucks and had two assists. Marty Turco is another story. Does he retire? Do the Blackhawks resign him? He didn’t have that good of a season with the Blackhawks, but sure as hell made the best of it on the bench. So many memorial moments and jokes from the guy. He was also big for Crawford. I’m not that well informed about the guys in the minor league but Brian Connelly($875,000) sticks out. He went to the American Hockey League All-Star Games and was the only guy to represent the Rockford Icehogs there. **This is just a post about current Blackhawks/Icehogs who are free agents. No outside players were looked at for this blog.
