Winning the Stanley Cup in the salary cap era is quite an accomplishment. It’s such a challenge with so much parity in the NHL, yet it’s so rewarding. The only fault that comes with a Stanley Cup victory is that it becomes too expensive to afford the greats that lead a team to such heights. A team that’s ever so familiar with this is the Chicago Blackhawks.
A lot of players have come and gone through the Blackhawks roster since their three Stanley Cup victories from 2010 to 2015. But when your championship reputation grows, the price of winning becomes even more costly.
It’s never fun to see your favorite players go after winning a championship, but it’s something that is uncontrollable with the salary cap. When a player does well their value rises. They will have a chance to make more money or belong somewhere where their pay will equal their contribution level.
Hawks fans have seen this happen on numerous occasions. For example, when they dumped Bryan Bickell and Teuvo Teravainen to the Carolina Hurricanes for a 2016 second round pick and a 2017 third round pick. The trade wasn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. While the Hawks got rid of Bickell’s $4 million cap hit, but they also disposed of a young talent in Teravainen. The Hawks lost a player with the potential to be a top six contributor down the line.
Blackhawks Salary Cap Casualty List Grows
Teravainen’s trade comes as even more of a surprise because of the fact that Hawks GM Stan Bowman said he’d re-sign the respected forward. Bowman did the exact same thing with Brandon Saad last year, prior to trading him to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“It was just a normal day, then this,” said Teravainen on a phone call according to Mark Lazerus (via Twitter). “You never know what’s going to happen with Chicago and their cap situation. You never know, but I was not expecting anything.”
Teravainen was just another casualty to the Hawks and their belligerent cap restrictions.
Listing the Casualties
This isn’t the first time the Hawks have dealt with such a bittersweet moment, as seen below since 2010:
https://twitter.com/nickgossnesn/status/743111338759757824
With all these names across the NHL now, it’s quite impressive to see the talents the Hawks brought through the team, but also sad in realization that they’re now gone and off to better things.
The list fails to include Johnny Oduya, Antti Raanta, and Antti Niemi, but still gets the point across. For the most part, these trades needed to happen for the franchise to keep core players who built the team from the ground up.
Using the Cap Space
For example, the result of dumping Bickell and Teravainen was breathing room to resign the versatile agitator Andrew Shaw, and possibly a fourth core defenseman that the team needs desperately. This task should be plausible considering the Hawks have roughly $10 million to toy around with.
This certainly isn’t the last time the Hawks are going to jeopardize key figures to win a championship. They’ll continue move some pieces around to fit the budget, while keeping the core intact. After all, this is the most reliable way teams can compete the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately it comes with a cost.
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