Marian Hossa – McKeen's Hockey

2015 NHL Playoffs: Chicago Blackhawks vs. Nashville Predators

McKeen's Hockey — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 15:39:56 +0000

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Nashville Predators

The Chicago Blackhawks should be the odds on favorite to win their third Cup in five years with the monumental news that Patrick Kane has medical clearance to play in the first game of round one. The Hawks have the pedigree and confidence to go all the way, but they have played a lot of hockey in the past five seasons and you have to worry if they have enough as in the tank to go all the way. The real wild card for the Hawks has to be Kane and if his shoulder will allow him to play at his best. Often when an All-Star player returns from injury there is a bit of an exhale from the rest of the team, if either is the case it may be enough to tip the scale towards Nashville as the Hawks will have their hands full in the first round. Chicago is far from a one trick pony with Patrick Kane as we all know. He is Robin to Jonathan Toews Batman and the dynamic duo has a super supporting cast upfront with Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Brandon Saad, Antoine Vermette and Brad Richards. The blue line is another strength anchored by the Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook pair with Kimmo Timonen, Johnny Oduya, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Michal Rozsival forming arguably the best defence in the Western Conference if not the NHL. Corey Crawford has proven over and over that he is a legit starting goalie and provides confidence and stability in the crease as well. With the Hawks cap situation in the immediate future a cause for concern the players and management know that the window of opportunity is as wide as it can get with this roster and the Hawks should be hungry for that third Championship that would cement their legacy as a cap era dynasty.

The Nashville Predators are the first and possibly most formidable obstacle in Chicago’s path to a dynasty. The Preds were world beaters early on in the season led by their star goalie Pekka Rinne who was an early favorite for a Vezina Trophy. What the Preds lack in super-star forwards they make up for in goal and on defense. The team is led by Shea Weber who is one of the best defenseman in the world and is supported by Roman Josi, Seth Jones, Matias Ekholm Ryan Ellis, Cody Franson and Anton Volchenkov. They say you can never have enough D in the playoffs but the Preds depth on the blue line is very impressive. The offence is a score by committee group and will lean heavily on rookie sensation Filip Forsberg. While there is no elite scorer, there are plenty of legitimate offensive options in Mike Ribeiro, James Neal, Mike Fisher, and Craig Smith while players like Paul Gaustad, Calle Jarnkrok, Colin Wilson and Mike Santorelli provide excellent depth. It has been said that to win a Championship in the NHL you need an elite goalie and a stud defenseman or two. Well the Preds check both those boxes and their 2.77 goals per game offense is not too concerning to think they do not have a very good chance to usurp the Hawks as top contender in the West. This series should be hotly contested, very physical, very close and very entertaining!

Top Ten Nashville Predators

Filip Forsberg – Potential rookie of the year breakout performance will be relied on to score some big goals
Mike Ribeiro – A reclamation project paying dividends, has never been a playoff performer but has he finally figured it all out?
Shea Weber – The most important skater both offensively and defensively will attempt to lead this team out of the first round for the first time
James Neal – Was the “real deal” in Pittsburgh, can he recapture that offense without Malkin and Crosby?
Mike Fisher – Solid two-way player brings consistency in regular season and post season.
Craig Smith – Streaky scorer has led the Preds in scoring, can he find consistency in the playoffs?
Roman Josi – Swiss defender had a 50 point season, has to prove he can be a factor in the playoffs
Colin Wilson – Former seventh overall pick scored a 20-20 season, but can he do it in the playoffs?
Ryan Ellis – Former standout for Canada at World Juniors will be counted on for Power play production.
Seth Jones – the 18 year old rookie had 27 points and was a plus-3. He will only get better.

Top Ten Chicago Blackhawks

Patrick Kane – Getting Kane and his 0.98 career playoff PPG offense back for game one is huge.
Jonathan Toews – A proven winner who just keeps finding ways to get the job done.
Marian Hossa – The Hoss is one of the best two way forwards in the NHL and has incredible playoff experience.
Brandon Saad – Hossa lite is proving to be just as effective in the post season as he is in the regular season
Patrick Sharp – Showed signs during the season he may be slowing down, but is still a great fantasy option
Duncan Keith – Has Conn Smythe type impact for the Hawks
Brent Seabrook – plays in Keith’s shadow but is every bit as valuable and important to the Hawks
Antoine Vermette – Trade deadline acquisition dominates in faceoffs which will help with puck possession
Brad Richards – Playoff warrior was playoff MVP during Tampa Bays Cup win, still has enough game to be effective on the third line
Kimmo Timonen – 40 year old is looking for his first Cup, brings a win it for the Gipper mentality

TOEWS THAT BIND

McKeen's Hockey — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 23:03:29 +0000

Chicago is one of the NHLs elite franchises where anything short of a Stanley Cup is a disappointment. The Hawks enjoyed another great season finishing with 107 points in the highly competitive Central Division, but were not successful in defending their Championship. Loaded with star players and keeper fantasy players like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith and Corey Crawford expect the Hawks to remain an elite team for the immediate future.

The Hawks are a consistently-winning team with two Cups in the last five years but every off season the salary cap forces them into difficult roster decisions. Previous cap casualties include players such as Dustin Byfuglien, Dave Bolland, and Michael Frolik. This summer the Hawks resigned their two superstar players Toews and Kane to a staggering 10 year $84 million extension each. While those players are worth both the dollar and term it forces the Hawks to be over the cap and in the position to have to trade another player or two to become cap compliant.

It is unlikely the Hawks move a key player such as Keith Seabrook, Marian Hossa or Patrick Sharp as they are too valuable at the moment. Players such as Kris Versteeg, Johnny Oduya or Nick Leddy would be preferable solutions.

Despite constant off season purging of roster players, the Hawks manage to stay competitive because of their prospect pipeline which currently has players like Teuvo Teravainen, Ryan Hartman and Adam Clendening in the wings. The Hawks have also added College free agents Matt Carey and Trevor Van Riemsdyk to the fold.

With the core intact, expect the Hawks to contend for a third Championship and to again be a fantasy rich destination.

We have posted player profiles of the following Blackhawks: Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Brandon Saad, Brad Richards, Andrew Shaw, Bryan Bickell, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Nick Leddy, Corey Crawford

Fantasy Hockey: The Situation in Chicago and What it Might Mean

Darren Kennedy — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 23:55:37 +0000

Chicago has painted themselves into a corner. They started painting, it was a nice pantone green. Once they were through with the walls and the ceiling they moved onto the floor. Painting away, loving life. When suddenly, there they were, stuck in the corner of the room with an ever disappearing area of dry land on which to sit.

Stan Bowman is holding the brush, and everyone is hoping he knows what he’s doing.

I shouldn’t act so dire. This is, after all, a team that has won two Stanley Cups in the last five years, and is icing a core of Patrick Kane, Corey Crawford, Johnathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Patrick Sharp. It’s a fantastic group of players that has been just about as successful as any group since Gretzky and a bunch of kids on a bus.

But they’re about to run into an issue that talent won’t be able to get them past – the dreaded cap.

Today, the upper limit of an NHL’s team salary is set at $69 million. Looking over Chicago’s lineup on Cap Geek we see that they’re in OK shape heading into 2014-15. Yes, they’re a hair over right now (sitting above 71 million), but a couple shrewd moves or one small trade can rectify that. Where things get interesting (or frightening, depending on your rooting interest), is in 2015-16. That’s when Kane and Toew’s new, $10.5 million dollar per year extensions kick in. So what can Bowman do to balance the books?

He’ll have a few options. Some are far less painful than others. If you were to inject him with a dose of truth serum he’d probably confess that as great as Marian Hossa has been over the past few years he’s now 35, and that annual cap hit of $5.275 million until 2020-21 could be a major issue if and when Hossa begins his decline. Even if Chicago made the difficult decision to trade the long-time star, who would be interested to take him on? That contract is far longer in term than comparable deals being handed out to aging superstars (Iginla comes to mind as a recent example). They would have to add a significant asset (or assets) to Marian in order to entice a suitor – and that could be counterproductive.

In an ideal world they would find a new team for Kris Versteeg and the $2.2 million he’s owed in 2015-16. But the savings there would be limited – not nearly enough to make room for their core to remain intact.

There has been some discussion around the idea of trading Brent Seabrook. He’s an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2016 and would clear almost $6 million in cap space. Of course the monetary savings would need to be weighed against the on-ice cost. Losing Brent would mean that only Keith and Hjalmarsson are under contract past next year. Corey Crawford is a GOOD, but certainly not great NHL goaltender, having a steady defensive group in front of him has been one of Chicago’s primary strengths. Dealing Seabrook is an option, but probably not the optimal one.

Trading any one of Keith, Toews, and Kane is a non-starter. All three players are at the pinnacle of their powers and should remain that way for multiple seasons to come. There is an argument to be made that Corey Crawford is somewhat overpaid at $6 million per season. However, when looking at his age, resume, and the going rate for a quality starting tender on the open seas he may not be THAT far above market value.

Through process of elimination there is only one other route for the team to consider – trading Patrick Sharp.

I’ll give myself the caveat that they certainly don’t have to trade him. There are other ways to make the numbers work. Perhaps the cap skyrockets to $80 million quicker than most expect, or they gut the entirety of their roster and use ELCs and veterans on close to minimum deals to fill out their bottom six. There are other options, but dealing Sharp may be the only one that truly makes sense.

The 32 year old is coming off of his best season as a professional, posting 34 goals, 44 assists, and 313 shots in 82 games. He finished ninth in the league for goals and 12^th in points. There were stretches of games last year where he may have been the most dangerous player in the NHL. At times in his career he’s been considered the defacto “sixth man” in the windy city – a supporting actor in a movie with two or three big name stars. 2013-14 was different. It was his year.

So why trade him?

There are a few factors working in Bowman’s favour if he goes down the road of dealing Sharp. Firstly, there is his contract. He’s locked up through to the end of 2016-17 at $5.9 million per year. It’s an enticing structure for teams with interest, since it keeps him under control for the remainder of his prime years at a dollar figure that isn’t disruptive to the rest of the roster. Few players capable of top 10 scoring totals are available on the market at south of $6 million.

Secondly, his value will never be higher. As stated above, his numbers last year will likely represent career highs. It’s hard to envision a scenario where his value climbs any higher than it is today. If the Blackhawks wait a season to begin talks they’ll be taking the risk that Sharp is either injured, or begins his decline. Additionally, he’ll turn 33 in December – an age when General Managers will, rightfully, begin to worry about the looming decline.

Thirdly, he’d command a heft collection of assets in return. It would be a combination of NHL ready players, draft picks, and prospects. This would help build the surrounding pieces around Toews and Kane, allowing the Blackhawks to contend over the next three to five years. Pittsburgh has been a recent case study of the folly in allowing your depth players to erode. While losing Sharp would hurt their high end talent, it may also be a rising tide that rises future boats across the roster.

Lastly, Chicago would be dealing from a position of strength. Moving out one of Seabrook or Crawford may solve their cap issue, but it immediately creates a new, possibly even worse situation to correct. They finished second in the NHL for goals per game, behind only Anaheim. Scoring has not been, and likely will not be a problem for this club. Sharp is a fantastic complimentary piece to have, but with players like Kane, Toews, Hossa, Richards, Saad, and Shaw, they’ll find a way to produce.

A lot remains to be seen. As of now all of this remains speculation from the bleachers during a hot summer weeknight when there isn’t much to write about in the NHL. But, if a trade involving Sharp does come to fruition it will represent a massive blow to his fantasy hockey owners. Much like Neal (although perhaps not to the same extreme), a large part of Sharp’s value his derived from his surroundings. I doubt that his points, powerplay production, or plus minus would match his Chicago totals if he were in another uniform, especially if it’s a bubble playoff team.

Whenever you’re painting a room it’s important that you start the venture with a firm plan, and that everything you do fits in with that plan. If you’re sitting with Patrick Sharp on your roster it might be time to start considering what exactly your contingency strategy is, lest you wind up with wet paint on your feet.

Darren Kennedy is a contributor for Mckeen’s and Dobber Hockey. You can find him on twitter @fantasyhockeydk, or on his couch watching Friday Night Lights on Netflix.