If I Were Dale Tallon (Part II)

Part I can be found here (or just right below this post).

In Part I, I discussed the Hawks forwards - who you could expect back, who I'd try to bring back, and who might not be around in 2009-10.

For Part II, it's on to the blueliners and goalies.

Keith (25:34 ATOI, +33, $1.475M), Seabrook (23:19 ATOI, +23, $3.5M), and Campbell (22:34 ATOI, +5, $7.15M) will not only assuredly be back next year, but almost certainly in 2010-11 and even well beyond. Campbell is locked up forever at an untradeable number, Seabrook is locked up through 10-11 (and is still restricted after that), and there's no chance the Hawks will let Keith get away after next season (when he's still a restricted free agent), no matter the cost.

Thanks to a strong post-season after being called up with only 19 regular season games remaining, Hjalmarsson (15:47 ATOI, +2 in the 38 combined regular season and playoff games, $645k) is looking like a very safe bet to be on the Hawks blue line in 2009-2010. And rightfully so - the Hammer has shown decent flashes in each of the past two regular seasons and stepped up to the challenge of playoff hockey quite impressively. Having just turned 22 a few weeks ago, with a full off-season to prepare for a regular spot, the Hammer is showing the upside to be a solid, feisty stay-at-home defender, despite his diminutive stature.

Much like Buff with the forwards, Barker (18:21 ATOI, -6) is the biggest question mark on the blue line. Unlike Buff, Barker made a consistent impact throughout the year, with a team-leading 25 PP assists and 40 total points. However, like Buff, Barker was maddeningly inconsistent - with good use of his size and stick often offset by glaring mistakes in the defensive end.

Barker is a restricted free agent, meaning he doesn't have a ton of negotiating room. However, he also made $2.77M last year and, as listed above, had some stellar numbers with which to command a significant paycheck.

There's no question the Hawks would miss Barker on the power play. More even than Campbell, Barker was the key blueline piece on one of the league's top units. And while Keith and Seabrook were also capable of lining up back there, both are too valuable otherwise to log many man advantage minutes. None of the other current in-house options are really good choices.

So losing Barker would create a significant void on the power play, a unit the Hawks relied on heavily, especially in the postseason. However, keeping Barker would mean yet another significant pay-out on the blueline, all without upgrading the unit defensively.

I'm really torn as to what I'd do with Barker. On some level I'd probably have to know what I could get back for him - my guess is that it's very significant. One of the reasons the Hawks invested so heavily in Campbell was because offensive blueliners are not easy to come by. It seems like there would be a lot of teams out there willing to trade significant assets to gain the services of a just-turned 23-year old with Barker's resume.

Ideally I'd keep Barker so as not to disrupt a power play that already is short on blueliners and also find a way to upgrade the final defensive spot with a veteran stay-at-home type who could compliment Campbell (allowing the speedster to push offensively with the confidence that his partner can clean up any messes). But financially that just might not be feasible. It might be a decision between Barker or adding that stay-at-home defenseman and keeping a forward like Pahlsson or Eager.

It's not an easy call, but gun to my head, I'm trading Barker for as much value as I can, restocking my system, and using the money to keep a Pahlsson or Eager as well as upgrade to that stay-at-home type the Hawks can so clearly use to round out their Top 4 defensemen. The Hammer and maybe Walker (for his size) or another emerging young kid or scrap heap type could skate as a strong third pairing.

Speaking of Walker (16:38 ATOI, +7), there's no question he brought some needed size and tenacity to the blueline. He's a pure free agent, but given that he only made $600k this year and is nothing more than a 6th defender at best, I don't think the Hawks would have to break the bank to bring him back. If it does turn out that there's a demand for his services, I say good riddance.

Ideally you can bring him back for about that same price (which is right around the minimum) and keep him as a 6th or 7th defender. Walker did get beat a ton during the playoffs, as the better skaters and teams exposed his utter lack of speed and inability to position himself to offset such. But Walker also worked very hard and is a hulk who uses every bit of his size, meaning he might just offset his downside, especially as he gets more comfortable in the Hawks' system. As a 7th defender, I'd love to have Walker, and I could even live with him as the 6th, if the Hawks would upgrade from Barker. But to keep Walker, Barker, and the Hammer means you're missing one true Top 4 defenseman, and most likely have to pair the lead-skated Walker and Barker together.

A guy I'm really curious about is Johnson (14:08 ATOI, +19), who started the year with 26 straight non-negative plus-minus games, only to get a bit banged up and never return to the regular mix. Not that plus-minus is everything, but a +19 and 26 straight games (the streak actually got all the way up to 31 before being snapped) without a negative seems to suggest a consistently solid blueliner. While in hindsight the decision was correct, it's very telling that even upon Wisniewski being dealt away, Johnson was skipped over by the Hammer.

Another pure free agent who definitely can be had for near the minimum, Johnson at the very least seems like the kind of guy worth keeping around for the same role he played this year - as a 7th defenseman. He just turned 26 at the end of April, so it's possible Johnson will get a bit better and produce as well as his numbers seemed to suggest. For some reason JQ doesn't seem to buy into those numbers, but it's still probably worth keeping him around to see.

Finally there's Sopel (for whom the Committed Indian - the bastard child of the old Blue Line - took to listing "talent" as the broken body part in their game night injury reports). Clearly the ugliest member of the Blackhawks, this year he was also the most worthless, looking impossibly slow and ineffective during 23 painful appearances at the beginning of the year.

Unfortunately, in a rear misstep a few seasons ago, Tallon signed Sopel to a deal that promises him $2.33M each of the next two seasons. The NHL allows a team to buy out a contract, but a significant portion will still remain on the cap. The Hawks could try to find a taker, packing Sopel with some attractive young prospects to a team with cap space and a talent shortage, or by exchanging him for someone else's cap problem.

I'm trying to package him for a more expensive stay-at-home defensive option, both getting out from under dead cap space and upgrading somewhere the Hawks have a need. Somewhere out there exist an overpaid veteran blueliners who still is a strong contributors, just signed to bloated deal. Given how tight the cap is, why wouldn't a team give up that blueliner just for a bit of payroll relief?

If that can't happen, I'm not buying him out - one of the downsides is that the cap hit, while smaller, lasts for more years. I don't want to be hamstrung by Sopel for the next four seasons, as it becomes more and more difficult to pay everybody. Instead, I'd take the chance that he really was just hurt this year and can come back and possibly be that stay-at-home defender I'm looking for. If not, farm him out and bite the bullet for the season, then revisit again next year.


I've discussed this before, so I won't go too into detail, but my plan would be to let Khabibulin (2.33 GAA, .919 Sv%) walk and commit to Huet (2.53 GAA, .909 Sv %, $5.625M). Huet's a bit inconsistent, but I think with the right team around him and the right commitment to him, he could lead you to a Cup. He's shown the flashes of brilliance. He'll frustrate us all along the way, but Huet showed me a few things this year and clearly showed Tallon something in the past to earn his contract. I'm hitching my wagon to him.

Behind Huet, I like the idea of having Niemi and Crawford duke it out. Both looked solid down at Rockford this year, and both have been talked about as capable NHL goaltenders. Niemi might not want to stick around this hemisphere next year, as there are rumors he'd prefer to return to his native Finland. However, if he does stick around, the Hawks are in good shape - one of those two guys should emerge as a viable back-up, and maybe even the one to take over for Huet in 2011-12. And as we saw with Khabi this year - you need goaltender depth. Knowing that we'd still have two solid goaltenders on the roster if Huet or the back-up went down is a pretty comforting thought.


In brief summation, I'm resigning Havlat if his demands are reasonable, and then considering moving Buff and Barker, re-signing Pahlsson, looking for a veteran stay-at-home blueliner, ideally in place of Sopel. And if I can't re-sign Havlat, I'm probably not moving Buff or Barker yet, cause I should have the money to keep them both as well as to bring back Pahlsson and get my defensive defenseman.

Should be a fun couple of weeks - let's see what Tallon, McDonough, and the Bowmans have up their sleeves.