August 2: Decisions

Hockey: Call it cap troubles or call it fear of the sophomore curse, Chicago has walked away from the $2.75 million salary for Anti Niemi that was set by an arbitrator. Instead, the goalie that recorded 16 wins in the playoffs last year to win the Blackhawks a Stanley Cup, is an unrestricted free agent. At age 26, the Finnish goalie would be a big asset to a wide array of teams looking for... well, anything and everything. He's got 22 playoff games, he's got a cup, and he's got the desire to do it again. There are a few places that could be his new home, depending on what a team will willing to make work.

A few teams that have some cap space open might be interested in Niemi. However, many of the teams are a lot closer to the cap then is currently shown. Take the Edmonton Oilers. That team will be bringing in at least 3 entry level contracts: Hall, Eberle, and Paarjarvi-Svensson (plus, potentially, Omark). Those contracts don't count in full against the team until any of those player play more than nine games. Edmonton still has room, but already have Khabibulin, Deslauriers, and Dubnyk. Niemi would give the Oilers some good trade pieces in two young goaltenders that have some NHL experience.

The Atlanta Thrashers have Chris Mason and Ondrej Pavelec, two goaltenders that will split the load this year. Tampa Bay has Dan Ellis and Mike Smith as their two keepers, but after Smith's lackluster couple of seasons since arriving in the Brad Richards trade, he might be on the outside if Niemi moves in. Some other names in the mix could be Carolina, due to the recent up-and-down play and injuries of Cam Ward; Nashville doesn't have a name to a backup yet, but with Renne already making $3.4 million, adding a $2.75 million to the goaltending might be a bit much; and the Islanders could add to their netminding mess by adding Niemi to play in front of Roloson, but, like so many teams talked about, Niemi might be part of a later trade equation.

The last team with a need for a goalie and has cap room would be the Dallas Stars. There's a great deal of irony here, as the Chicago Blackhawks have signed former-Star Marty Turco. This leaves the net being cared for by Kari Lehtonen and Andrew Raycroft. For a team that is looking to move past the era of Turco and Modano, a pick up like Niemi might go a long way for the team, even if it means having $7 million invested in 3 goalies.

Almost any team could use this guy. I said earlier that Chicago would be crazy to get rid of Niemi. I used the fact that Chicago dumped about $15 million in cap to facilitate an environment that could keep Niemi. However, in the end, the money still dictated the final sale. With Huet making $5.625 million the Blackhawks could not afford to be paying over $8 million in goaltending. A big loss for that team, but the gain for the rest of the league and maybe a week of fun speculation and talk about the Stanley Cup winning goaltender of last year.