Today Chicago Blackhawks' GM Stan Bowman was able to tick off the top box on his summertime "to-do" list, inking Corey Crawford to a 3 year contract worth 8 million dollars.

After last summer's contract debacle with Antti Niemi, the stability the franchise now faces with their starting goaltending is a refreshing change of pace. This will mark the first time since the start of the 2007-08 season that the Blackhawks will have a starting goaltender at the beginning of the season who is the same as the one from the end of the previous season.

To wit:

YEAR	BEGINNING-OF-SEASON GOALIE	END-OF-SEASON GOALIE
2006-07	Nikolai Khabibulin	Nikolai Khabibulin
2007-08	Nikolai Khabibulin	Nikolai Khabibulin
2008-09	Cristobal Huet	Nikolai Khabibulin
2009-10	Cristobal Huet	Antti Niemi
2010-11	Marty Turco	Corey Crawford
2011-12	Corey Crawford

So the net is Corey's. Which, of course means there will be a new backup goaltender who will be the object of the local meatball's affections. But that's for later.

For now, what this means is the $4.1 million or so the Hawks lost off the cap due to the Bonus Penalty is absorbed by the raises given to Brent Seabrook ($2.3 million) and Crawford ($1.8 million). So it's really not that big a deal.

Is Crawford being overpaid, underpaid, or paid market value? Let's take a look within the division (excluding Huet's deal, since he'll never count against anyone's cap this year):

1. Jaroslav Halak (STL) $3.75 million
2. Pekka Rinne (NSH) $3.4 million
3. Steve Mason (CBJ) $2.9 million
4. Corey Crawford (CHI) $2.66 million
5. Jimmy Howard (DET) $2.25 million

So as you can see, pretty decent bang for the buck. Overall in the NHL, he'd slot in as the 22nd highest paid goaltender, just ahead of Tampa's Dwayne Roloson ($2.5 million) who is unrestricted, and will leapfrog Crawford.

So overall, good on Stan for bringing in Crawford without breaking the bank. Once the NHLPA announces they're taking the automatic 5% cap escalator, which will bump the cap up to $62.2 million, the Hawks will have over $8.5 million for 8 guys. The only guys who were Blackhawks last year who are possible signings of over $1 million are Michael Frolik ($1.275 million this year), Troy Brouwer ($1.025 million) and Chris Campoli ($1.4 million). The rest of the guys should come in at under a million, unless the Hawks pull the trigger on something larger come July 1, free agent signing day.