Should the Chicago Blackhawks be Sellers?

With Patrick Kane set to miss up to 12 weeks, should the Chicago Blackhawks change their deadline strategy?

By now the hockey world is well aware that Patrick Kane‘s injury will keep the superstar sidelined the next 12 weeks. No doubt it’s a devestating blow to the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup chances as they try to navigate the Western Conference. While they sit comfortably in a playoff spot with 77 points, eight ahead of ninth, the Hawks aren’t measured by playoff appearances. No. They are the rare club that’s measured by championships and while everyone is speculating on who they will add prior to the trade deadline, I’m here to tell you they’re all wrong. In fact, this is the perfect time for the Blackhawks to be sellers and re-tool their roster.

Whaaaat? Be sellers at the deadline? The Chicago Blackhawks? Has this man gone crazy? Well in a word, no.

First, yes it is true that once Kane is placed on long term injured reserve (LTIR), the Blackhawks will “gain” his $6.5 million in cap space to add players. And once you get to the playoffs, there is no longer a salary cap ceiling so in theory the Blackhawks could add a player or players equaling the $6.5 million, then wait until late-May and if Kane is healthy, insert him back into the lineup with no issues. Sounds like a great plan, right?

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The problem is trying to get to late-May still in the playoffs, which is likely the Conference Finals. If Patrick Kane isn’t around the first two rounds of the playoffs, should the team feel confident they’ll still be kicking at that point. Yes, there’s a chance. Realistically? Probably not.

There are some intriguing names rumored to be available at the deadline- Jaromir Jagr, Antoine Vermette, Tyler Bozak– to name a few. And while the Blackhawks would have the benefit of the LTIR salary slot, the team finds itself in salary cap hell next season as of today. According to spotrac.com, the Blackhawks have 13 players under contract for next season which carry approximately a $63 million cap charge. With the projected salary cap expected to be around $73 million, it doesn’t leave much flexibility for the Blackhawks to add significant salaries going forward (and that 13 players doesn’t include restricted free agents Brandon Saad or Marcus Kruger).

Simply put: the Blackhawks can’t afford to add a player that has a contract beyond this season at the trade deadline. So yes, they can add some rentals, but that ignores the cost to acquire and most likely doesn’t make up for the loss of Kane. I mean, when you lost a top-five player in the league, there aren’t too many options that could.

So without Patrick Kane, the Blackhawks are going to need to most likely get through the St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators in the first two rounds without number 88. No one would say a team with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook can’t win, but without the offensive genius of Kane, the odds of success are diminished.

With that said and understanding the team’s salary cap crunch next season, now is the perfect time to become sellers before March 2nd.

I’m not advocating stripping the team to the bones and ridding Keith, Toews, or Seabrook. Those guys are a phenomenal core going forward and with a healthy Kane next season, are legitimate Cup contenders. But with deadline prices already getting crazy, why not look to see what you can get for Sharp? How about testing the waters for Marian Hossa? Sharp is locked up for two more seasons, Hossa for four, after this season and are on the back-end of their fantastic careers. If Daniel Winnik could fetch a couple of draft picks as a rental, what could those two get you?

Of course Sharp and Hossa also come with a hefty cap hit, so it’s probably a good bet that one or both will be moved over the summer as the Blackhawks piece together their roster. Why not be proactive now and look to deal from a position of strength as opposed to when everyone else knows you need to shed salary. Do the Hawks remember the lessons of this past off-season where they were forced to deal Nick Leddy for 25 cents on the dollar a week before the season started? Would you rather get a mid-tier prospect and two middling ones later for Sharp, or extract a first round plus another top-end prospect for him now? (Or heaven-forbid be handcuffed to the point where they’d lose 22-year old Brandon Saad?) I think the answer is clear.

Why stop there though? Could pending free agent defensemen Johnny Oduya or Michal Rozsival bring back big returns? Andrej Sekera just returned a first round pick and prospect for Carolina. Could you at least get a second round pick and/or decent prospect for Oduya or Rozsival? General managers generally go crazy for quality defensemen. There’s no reason why those two could garner significant interest before March 2nd.

The Blackhawks could even try to get creative and attach a contract like Bryan Bickell to any trade to shed his $4 million cap hit going forward. Yes, the return may be less, but that $4 million could likely be spent more effectively than on Bickell who, despite his past post-season heroics, just isn’t worth the money he’s being paid.

Let’s just play a little hypothetical: what if the Hawks traded Sharp to a team fighting for the playoffs like the Panthers for a first round pick and maybe a prospect like Jayce Hawryluk. Move Oduya to Detroit for a third round pick and a prospect like Alexei Marchenko. Trade Rosival to Montreal for a second round pick. Offer Kris Versteeg to Washington for a first round pick and John Erskine (free agent after the season).

Now you go into the summer still with a core of Kane, Toews, Saad, Seabrook, Keith, Corey Crawford, plus an abundance of draft picks and an extra $8 million in cap space to re-sign key free agents and maybe even add a few pieces. It’s still a core that is title-worthy but also is positioned well for the future with high draft picks that work cheap.

Yes, it’s a tough sell to the fans now, no doubt. The team should still be good enough to make the playoffs this year, although anything beyond that would be surprising. However, without Kane the Blackhawks will find itself in a similar position of being longshots to make noise this spring. The team needs to re-tool the roster before next season…why not speed up the process and maximize the return now?

Being sellers hasn’t been a position the Blackhawks are familiar with, and with a little creativity and forward thinking, it’s a position they shouldn’t find themselves in again soon as long as they face the reality of their situation now.

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