Hockey: The Blackhawks might be willing to see everything fall away so quickly. Chicago has announced that they will match the San Jose Shark's offer on D Nik Hjalmarsson. Because Hjalmarsson is a restricted free agent he is forced to stay in Chicago if his offer is matched. Although I believe Hjalmarsson is a fantastic player and has a good future, I'm not sure if the Blackhawks have the room for him financially.
The Blackhawks only have 5 defensemen signed with one-way contacts (Keith, Seabrook, Campbell, Scott, and now Hjalmarsson) and have a total cap hit $20.2 million. To put that in perspective, the Vancouver Canucks have 9 defense signed (Hamhuis, Ballard, Salo, Edler, Ehrhoff, Bieksa, O'Brien, Rome, and Alberts) and a combined cap hit of $25.7 million. Moreover, Vancouver is likely to be shipping a defenseman or two out to accommodate for two-play contract players crack the roster. Nonetheless, the Canucks have a full contingent of defensemen while the Blackhawks do not, and considering the difference in price, I'm not too sure if Chicago is going to be able to make it.
It's tough comparing those two teams and their defensive corps. After all, Duncan Keith won the Norris. I would argue that if Ehrhoff can build off of the season he had last year that Ehrhoff could be a Norris candidate. Chicago is desperately trying to make room for a full team, and as long as players like Campbell and Huet are around they will have to accept that they will be playing with low rated players just so they can fill the bench.
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