Everyone knows about the much publicized Chicago Blackhawks cap troubles; according to
CapGeek after all the deals the Blackhawks have done they are still just over 1mil over the cap. The
San Jose took a little revenge from their Confrence Final defeat by the Hawks; by giving an offer sheet to Niklas Hjalmarsson. In the end Stan Bowman matched because Hjalmarsson is part of the "core group" club which includes: Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith and now Sharp which Bowman said will not be traded. The Hawks now added 3.5mil to their troubles. And with a big part of their sucess; Antti Niemi is still a restricted free-agent. You have to think that this was the Sharks plan all along.
With Nabokov going to Russia, the Sharks can easily extend an offer to Niemi. The Sharks have confidence in Thomas Greiss, but a tandem with newly acquired Antero Niittymakii and Niemi would be that Nabokov-Toskala tandem they had success with. Sharks have about 6mil cap space and only have restricted free-agent Devin Setoguchi to sign. 6mil to sign Setoguchi and possibly Niemi is easily doable (but there are rumours of Kaberle to SJ for Setoguchi and possibly more).
SOLUTION!
So with Bowman's vote of confidence to Sharp and the matched offer sheet to Hjalmarsson; there is only one player that comes to mind. Brian Campbell; the 7.1 million dollar-man. Personally I don't think
Campbell is as bad as it is played out to be, it is just his salary over shadows his play. I am sure if he logged Duncan Keith's minutes he would rack up similar points to Keith (making 8mil). So moving
Campbell is only one real move Bowman can do to free up enough salary to sign the very deserving Niemi.
First off, let's go over every team that can afford
Campbell:
Washington,
Buffalo,
Columbus,
Florida,
Carolina, Dallas Edmonton,
Phoenix,
Anaheim,
Tampa Bay,
Los Angeles,
Nashville,
St. Louis,
Colorado, New York Islanders and
Atlanta. That's just about half the league, so how come the Blackhawks can't move him? Because it is like the Kovalchuk to
Los Angeles situation, where if he got traded (is Kovy's case signed) it would take a big hit to the cap and give teams trouble signing key players. So you would need teams with a lot more than 8, 9 or 10mil to have enough space.
You could put up: LA,
Tampa Bay and
Anaheim up, but all have players to sign in the future. LA has Doughty, Johnson and Simmonds that they would like to keep; especially Doughty and Johnson.
Tampa Bay has Stamkos and Hedman to worry about.
Anaheim is currently working on Bobby Ryan (somewhere in the 5mil range), but they also have Getzlaf and Perry in 4 years to sign. There is still 6 years left on
Campbell's contract that is a consistent 7.1mil.
So cut the list down to 5. The teams are
Nashville (16.1mil),
St. Louis (19.5mil),
Colorado (23.7mil), New York Islanders (27.2mil) and
Atlanta (27.6mil). Let's shorten it to 4 because
Nashville is absolutely loaded on defense and has Shea Weber to sign in the next year.
St. Louis
's could have one of the best defense core in the league with Campbell. With Alex Pietrangelo (who would have been a leading candidate for the Calder Trophy had he played fewer games), Erik Johnson (who is still a restricted free-agent) and adding Campbell would be good but... It would be Chicago all over again. Because of his contract, he needs to be the top pairing to defenseman. Erik Johnson is part of the core and needs to be resigned. Pietrangelo should be his partner or 2nd pairing next year. So Campbell would be playing the same minutes as he would in Chicago and probably produce the same numbers; which more of his salary criticism.
Campbell to Atlanta would just seem funny. Atlanta is just taking all of the great players Chicago can't afford, basically being the doppelganger of the Blackhawks. But again there is a factor of being a no.1 defenseman. Enstrom and Bogosian are their best defenseman. Enstrom is progressing each year and Bogosian is rising steadily; so the only one that makes sense would be Enstrom for Campbell. I think it would be perfect. Enstrom would be producing the same numbers (or more) playing Campbell's former minutes. There would only be about 3-4mil to work with for Niemi though. Finally Campbell would be able to score like he did with Buffalo.
Now to Long Island where they have Mark Streit, and ... Mark Streit on defense. Mark Streit would be a great fit in Chicago with about a 4mil cap hit for the next 3 years. It is a very modest salary for a great scoring defenseman. But do you know what would be even better? Okposo or Bailey (and maybe some picks) from the NY Islanders. Streit is their only offensive defenseman, and they definitely need at least one more. Now they have Calvin de Haan that can crack the roster, but that is still doubtful. Streit and Campbell would vie for the no.1 defenseman. Even if Campbell wasn't the no.1 he would get great time on the powerplay with Streit; certainly racking up points. Okposo going the other way would be a great replacement for Versteeg. Same type of points producer, and would produce even more on Chicago than NYI.
Finally we have Colorado, where John-Michael Liles lead the team with 31pts. This is great, for a second pairing defenseman. So the Avalanche have space, and really defense space; where Campbell would fit in very nicely. It would really benefit Matt Duchene, who had a great rookie campaign; he could have a Drew Doughty type sophomore, with an offensive defenseman like Campbell feeding him the puck. Players going the other way could be Chris Stewart and/or even underrated defenseman Ryan Wilson (had back-to-back 70+ points in the OHL and wasn't even drafted, rather signed).
This trade isn't a sure thing, obviously because of his contract. Also Tallon wouldn't have gave Campbell a long contract like he did if he didn't think he would be apart of the "core group". Now it is what Bowman thinks. This potential trade could look like the recent Simon Gagne trade. There will probably be not a lot in return because the Hawks are looking just to move his contract to sign other players. I'm not saying they will get a Matt Walker type player in this trade like the Flyers did, but it all depends on the players contract and how much Niemi will get paid.
Most likely? New York Islanders. It's a great trade if Okposo is going the other way. Streit is good too, but he still has 4mil contract. Which is modest for his play, but the Hawks still need more space. The Islanders have 3 restricted free agents next year (or two if they were to trade Okposo or Bailey). They will still have 24.2mil to work with, it shouldn't be a problem. It wouldn't be such a difficult trade to make if it wasn't such a lengthy contract.
The best fit? Colorado Avalanche. Avalanche need an offensive defenseman desperately and Campbell should be their man. The only problem they are facing is what they could send the other way compared to New York. Now Bowman could easily trade him to Colorado as long as it isn't an Aki Berg-type player and there is a lot of cap space to work with to sign Niemi and still have some room to make minor deals.
In the end many things can happen like putting him on waivers with Huet (very doubtful) or one of the 14 teams I listed before could make a trade. But of course it will but the team in cap troubles for the following years if they can't move other players. Or Chicago can keep Campbell and most likely have to trade Niemi or San Jose or others could give him an offer sheet. We musn't forget that because of Campbell's NTC he would get to decide the team(s) he wouldn't mind joining, that's if he wants to leave.
