Niemi Hearing Today

[sbb122]

The arbitration hearing takes place today. I can see him getting 3-3.2 mil. What do you guys think? More importantly, what do you think chicago does when the ruling comes down? Let him walk or pay him and take another crippling cap hit.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

i think they have to sign him and internally if they think the arb's decision is too much they look at a trade ... they cant just let an asset walk away

 

[sbb122]

i think they have to sign him and internally if they think the arb's decision is too much they look at a trade ... they cant just let an asset walk away

Good catch jstew, let him walk was a bad choice of words (i knew what i meant in my head)

Trading him leaves them with Huet and Crawford. Very interested to see how this shakes out.

 

[awaz]

i think he'll get around 3.. and i think the hawks will sign him.. aside from my own team, the sharks are definitely the most interesting to me this off-season

 

[dash]

I think 3m is right in the ballpark, but 3.5 million wouldn't surprise me.

/Aside, rumour is that the entry level contract that Nick Leddy signed with the Hawks did not contain any bonus stipulations (which is practically unheard of for a first round pick) further illustrates the cap hell that the Hawks are still experiencing.

Edit: Now it's being reported that Leddy's contract does include bonuses. Ektard up to his usual shenanigans.

 

[loki604]

It will be really interesting to see how this one plays out.

On the one hand, you have a saturated goalie market currently that has seen goalies sign for below what one might expect.

On the other hand, you have examples of young Cup-winning goalies like Fleury making five million, even though his stats aren't fantastic.

I'll say 3.5

 

[pixburgher66]

according to my tweet-reliable sources they're trying to sign him before arb. what i don't get about that is, normally, don't salaries normally go UP? no matter what chicago has to trade someone if they want to keep niemi, and not just ANY someone, an expensive someone.

 

[puckhead]

blow it up!

I'll go on the high side at $3.6m-3.8, mostly because I want it at the high side to do more damage.
and either Sharp or Bolland is traded somewhere for picks / prospects. They have said they aren't trading Sharp, but he has the more tradeable contract.

 

[awaz]

wow just re-reading my own post.. i said the sharks and thats totally not what i meant.. meant the hawks

i'm dumb.

 

[pixburgher66]

i think sharp gets traded. once again all the other GMs have the upper hand and they're not gonna push too many great prospects chicago's way. and bolland just isn't as good as sharp....

 

[Vadered]

Sign Niemi, trade him to the Flyers... for Walker.

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW.

 

[HHCIB]

Anyone know how good Corey Crawford is supposed to be? Keep hearing his name mentioned. If he is a potential 'goalie of the future' ... could let Niemi walk if he's awarded $3M-$3.5M through arbitration and pick up Turco for around $2M for a short term fix. Have to think Turco would do well enough with the Hawks defense in front of him.

 

[pixburgher66]

Anyone know how good Corey Crawford is supposed to be? Keep hearing his name mentioned. If he is a potential 'goalie of the future' ... could let Niemi walk if he's awarded $3M-$3.5M through arbitration and pick up Turco for around $2M for a short term fix. Have to think Turco would do well enough with the Hawks defense in front of him.

yeah, but they don't even have 2 mil for turco. even if it's just for a season they'd have to trade bolland or sharp. right now they're 450K OVER the cap with their signings of Skille and...someone else i can't remember right now. i'm still just amazed that they would choose to sign Hjallmersson fully knowing that Niemi is going to be making at least 3 mil. i mean, he back stopped a SC championship team, so i'm pretty sure the arbitratior is going to notice that and factor it into his worth. the thing is though, where does Niemi go if Chicago lets him go?

 

[puckhead]

Anyone know how good Corey Crawford is supposed to be? Keep hearing his name mentioned. If he is a potential 'goalie of the future' ... could let Niemi walk if he's awarded $3M-$3.5M through arbitration and pick up Turco for around $2M for a short term fix. Have to think Turco would do well enough with the Hawks defense in front of him.

He's mentioned only because he's #3 on the depth chart, and Chicago can't afford to bring anyone else in anyways.
He has been bouncing around Chicago's system for 4 or 5 years, spending almost all that time in the AHL.
at this point he is an AHL goalie, or maybe an NHL back-up.

 

[HHCIB]

Can't they 'demote' Huet and save themselves $5.6M? That would put them around $5M under the cap with a handful of players to sign. They need a forward I believe and a couple defensemen for depth and a backup for Niemi / or whoever they end with. The Hawks' current $59.8M cap hit still includes Huet I believe.

 

[puckhead]

Can't they 'demote' Huet and save themselves $5.6M? That would put them around $5M under the cap with a handful of players to sign. They need a forward I believe and a couple defensemen for depth and a backup for Niemi / or whoever they end with. The Hawks' current $59.8M cap hit still includes Huet I believe.

yes they can waive and demote Huet to save $5.6m. Apparently this would pretty much kill Rocky to pay that to an AHL player, but he may have no choice.
however, even with that they have a bonus penalty of $4.15m, so they aren't working with the full $59.8m anyways.

with Niemi (at $3m) and Crawford, they have 5 players still to fill the roster, and only $1.4m left to work with (ie. less than $300k per player). So even with Huet waived, someone else has to go.

 

[BostonAJ]

Hawks fans seem adamant that Huet will be buried in the AHL, but I'll be stunned if this happens. Nobody is easily willing to throw away 11 million dollars. If they buy him out they'll have a 1.9 cap hit for the next two years. They'll still need to make a soft trade with somebody significant. All us other fans are drooling at the possibilites (except me, who's team also resides in cap hell ).

 

[dash]

with Niemi (at $3m) and Crawford, they have 5 players still to fill the roster, and only $1.4m left to work with (ie. less than $300k per player). So even with Huet waived, someone else has to go.

Yet they won the big prize at the end of the year and have managed to keep the "core guys" - Imagine the gnashing of teeth if they had failed in their attempt to acquire Lord Stanley's mug.

 

[pixburgher66]

Garrioch just tweeted that the Hawks have called a conference call with Bowman tonight at 7pm...hmmm...

 

[BostonAJ]

Hawks have called a press conference in one hour.