Maybe it's the season. This seems to be the time of year when everyone is shopping, so it also seems like a good time to look ahead to see what lies ahead for the Chicago Blackhawks after this season.

Stan Bowman has been bouncing Jeremy Morin back & forth between Chicago and Rockford lately, squeezing every last buck of cap space. He's managed to scrounge almost a million dollars in cap space, which can come in handy if the Hawks find themselves in a position where they need to make a trade for a playoff push.

After last season, when they celebrated their Stanley Cup victory by having to cut millions in Cap space, it would be nice to hear something happy about the Hawks and the Salary Cap.

Here you go.

The Hawks have virtually their entire core locked up through the 2011-12 season. At this week's NHL Governor's Meeting, the ever-strengthening Canadian dollar is actually helping NHL revenues more than the thousands of people disguised as empty seats in Florida, Atlanta, Phoenix, Columbus and other depressed markets are hurting.

As a result, the NHLPA will probably invoke their automatic 5% inflator. For teams like Atlanta, Colorado and the Islanders, this would put them under the salary floor if it were invoked today. For teams like the Hawks, it means $2,97 million added to the Cap.

The Hawks have 10 players (Kane, Toews, Hossa, Sharp, Bolland, Keith, Murdersaurus, Campbell, Hjalmarsson, Bickell) already signed for 2011-12. When you consider they're penalized $4 million this year only, and you add in the inflator, that means they have around $20 million to spend on 12 guys for next season.

There are 6 Unrestricted Free Agents (Kopecky, Pisani, Hendry, Boynton, Turco, Cullimore) and 6 Restricted Free Agents (Brouwer, Stalberg, Skille, Dowell, Seabrook, Crawford). Looking at those two lists, and considering the talent in the pipeline that is ready to contribute, and (if you really feel like wasting time, since the list will be very fluid between now and July 1) free agents that will be available, there's really no compelling reason to believe that any of the Hawks' UFAs will return. Kopecky is the only player making over $1 million, and for that money the Hawks would be better served filling that salary slot with Jeremy Morin.

As for the RFAs, there is one absolute no-brainer on that list, Brent Seabrook. Seabs is already making $3.5 million, so a bunp to, say, $5.5 million in cap space (just a whisker under Duncan Keith), is very manageable. It also means there is an awful lot of space remaining for Stan Bowman to spend. I'm pretty sure that the other RFAs have all basically been told they're auditioning for next season. The Hawks are in a win-win with these guys, since they don't have to let these guys go for nothing unless they absolutely want to. They can either trade their rights or get compensation once they're signed to an offer sheet.

Crawford has made the most compelling case of any of the RFAs for staying in Chicago. He's been pretty damn solid, and can make a case for starting next season. If he reveals himself to still be a backup goalie, there will be almost as heavy a glut of free agent goalies as last season.

Now here's the bad part of having this much money - every meatball in Chicago will clamor for every erstwhile 2010 Blackhawk to return to the fold. Forget it. Atlanta will be absolutely insane to not re-sign both Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien. Whether their play this year is carryover from last season, and they're really going to put up these numbers on a consistent basis or if they're in a salary drive, they are Atlanta's best (and highest profile) players. Rick Dudley has to lock them up for at least 3 years each, and they will be handsomely compensated. Brent Sopel? That's a different story. His home is here, his kids go to school here, he was very effective in the Hawks' system. I fully expect to see him return.

But here's the bottom line. Whatever happens with the remainder of this season, the Chicago Blackhawks are positioned to add resources for a truly triumphant 2011-12 season.