Hawks Waive Goodbye to Khabi
The Hawks took another major step towards shaping this year's team today, placing goalie Nikolai Khabibulin on waivers. What does this mean? Well, first and foremost, it means more cap room. If Khabi is claimed by another team, they take on the whole salary. If he clears waivers and the Hawks elect to make him the highest paid member of the Rockford Ice Hogs, his salary still comes off the cap number. Combine this with the salary cleared in the Lang trade, and the Hawks would be about $8.25 million under the salary cap. This would give them plenty of room to sign or trade for the number 2 centerman that they currently lack.
So, who would the Hawks go after? Well, the free agent pool has pretty much dried up, but a couple of big names remain unsigned. One is the perennially injured Peter Forsberg, who played half a season with Colorado last year (and supposedly entertained an offer from the Hawks before signing with the Avalanche). Forsberg's a brilliant player when healthy, and he'd benefit from carrying a smaller load in Chicago, but I still don't trust him to be able to play a full season. Even more intriguing is that Mats Sundin still remains unsigned. His preference seemed to be to play in Canada, but he didn't sign with Vancouver when he had the chance, and I'm not sure anybody would be in a hurry to go back to the wretched mess that is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Still, Sundin would appear to be a very long shot at this point.
The trade market is the Hawks other option, but it's hard to say who's available. Chicago does have the advantage of having a few extra young defensemen to deal (especially if veteran Keith Carney manages to win a spot on the team in camp) which is always good. Right now the most obvious candidate to me would be LA Kings second year center Patrick O'Sullivan, a restricted free agent who is holding out of training camp in a contract dispute. A sign and trade for O'Sullivan would give the Hawks another good, young center, and leave enough cap room to allow the team some maneuverability to make moves in season if need be.
So, who would the Hawks go after? Well, the free agent pool has pretty much dried up, but a couple of big names remain unsigned. One is the perennially injured Peter Forsberg, who played half a season with Colorado last year (and supposedly entertained an offer from the Hawks before signing with the Avalanche). Forsberg's a brilliant player when healthy, and he'd benefit from carrying a smaller load in Chicago, but I still don't trust him to be able to play a full season. Even more intriguing is that Mats Sundin still remains unsigned. His preference seemed to be to play in Canada, but he didn't sign with Vancouver when he had the chance, and I'm not sure anybody would be in a hurry to go back to the wretched mess that is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Still, Sundin would appear to be a very long shot at this point.
The trade market is the Hawks other option, but it's hard to say who's available. Chicago does have the advantage of having a few extra young defensemen to deal (especially if veteran Keith Carney manages to win a spot on the team in camp) which is always good. Right now the most obvious candidate to me would be LA Kings second year center Patrick O'Sullivan, a restricted free agent who is holding out of training camp in a contract dispute. A sign and trade for O'Sullivan would give the Hawks another good, young center, and leave enough cap room to allow the team some maneuverability to make moves in season if need be.
The more I think about it, I would've loved Nylander...BUT, I think Sundin would provide the veteran leadership the team lacks right now. I think Sundin would be willing to come SOMEWHAT west to play for the Hawks.
Reply to this