Dale Tallon cares not for your "salary cap"!

The Blackhawks made a fairly major move yesterday, locking up center Dave Bolland for 5 years at $3.6 million per.  When talking about free agency in recent Puckcasts, one of the major issues discussed was what the Hawks projected for Bolland.  With this deal the Blackhawks have basically announced that Bolland is their number 2 center next year, and the focus of free agency will be re-signing Sammi Pahlsson or  perhaps a cheaper veteran like John Madden to anchor the 3rd line.

I have to say, I don't like this deal.  While the deal makes sense on its face if the Hawks see Bolland as a Mike Cammalleri type center, the way it was negotiated seems like another case of Dustin Byfuglienitis.  Bolland had a nice offensive year in 2008-09, he did playing with Martin Havlat on his wing, a situation that seems increasingly unlikely for 2009-10.  Havlat was the play-maker for that line, and Bolland's not a guy who's shown he can create for himself, so we may be finding out rather quickly how much of Dave's success came from playing with a terrific player having a career year.  I would assume he'll be starting the season with Patrick Kane on his right wing, in hopes of creating a similar chemistry.

The other issue I have with the signing is the timing of it.  Bolland is a restricted free agent, meaning the Hawk had the option of matching any offer he was given.  The point of locking a guy like that up prior to the open of the free agency period is to get him at a discount, which means the Hawks seem to think that somebody out there thought that Bolland might be worth a $4 million a year offer sheet.  With Kevin Lowe safely locked in an insane asylum, that scenario seems highly unlikely, and this looks like a case of panic from the front office.