Verdict: Blackhawks make big changes in latest salary cap test

One cannot live by Bread Man alone, and Artemi Panarin surely will be missed.
But with the most rigid salary cap in professional sports, change is imperative throughout the National Hockey League. Thus the Blackhawks, who have been there and done that, will look quite different when the 2017-18 schedule commences this October.
After a couple of significant trades followed by a spate of free agent signings, the Blackhawks intend to be younger, bigger, faster, deeper and, with the return of popular Patrick Sharp, even handsomer. Will they be as good or better than the team that won the Western Conference last season with 109 points, the second-highest total in franchise history?

Time will tell, and time is not a commodity wasted by Senior Vice President/General Manager Stan Bowman. He was visibly annoyed after the Blackhawks were swept in the First Round of the playoffs, but averred that his master plan was not entirely based on one week of torpor against the Nashville Predators.
Impulsive acts are not the foundation of sound roster revisions, and Bowman has overseen his share. The Blackhawks have won three Stanley Cups in eight years, despite being forced to shed more talent than any other organization. That salary cap, alas, is not impressed by success. It doesn't ask for autographs, receive a ring or care about parades. Only numbers matter.
The upside for fans is this: Given this decorated decade, the Blackhawks front office could have dismissed that Nashville comeuppance as just one of those things. Or four of those things. But Bowman has proven to be nimble and proactive, a proponent both of trying to run the table now and building toward the future.
Panarin was a terrific find who evolved into a certified sniper over two seasons. But he was dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Brandon Saad who, in an ironic twist, reappears and affords cost certainty (or costly certainty, if you will) two years after the Blackhawks reluctantly parted ways because they couldn't afford him-precisely a dilemma the Blackhawks envisioned with Panarin two years hence.
Saad is slightly younger than Panarin, packs more heft and should be as comfortable with the Blackhawks as he was before. He figures to skate again with Jonathan Toews, who has often looked to his left and found a "vacancy" sign posted. In addition, the Blackhawks secured a potential backup goalie, Anton Forsberg, who backstopped the Lake Eric Monsters to the Calder Cup championship in the American Hockey League. He will have big skates to fill. Scott Darling was a gem behind Corey Crawford, but there was no way the Blackhawks could compensate him. This is a recorded announcement.
Niklas Hjalmarsson, a shutdown defenseman who would rather stick his face in front of a puck than a camera, was hailed by Bowman as the "ultimate warrior." But he also cited the "big picture"-which might be synonymous with the payroll spreadsheet-as a factor in trading Hjalmarsson, 30, to the Arizona Coyotes for Connor Murphy, 24. He brings size, much promise, and also has an affinity for blocking shots.
There are job openings on the Blackhawks' blue line, which was further depleted when Trevor van Riemsdyk was claimed in the expansion draft by the Las Vegas Golden Knights, who then sent him to the Carolina Hurricanes. So, the competition is open to several candidates, not the least of whom (when his time comes) is Henri Jokiharju, an 18-year-old Finn who shoots right and was the Blackhawks' first-round selection at the NHL Draft, so impressive that the league took out full-page newspaper ads thanking Chicago, the United Center and the record 47,514 who attended.
It's a new world in hockey. The No. 1 overall selection by the New Jersey Devils was Nico Hischier, a center from Switzerland! He can walk across the street and open a Swiss bank account. But there is also room in the NHL brotherhood for an accomplished veteran such as Sharp, who logged many a shift with Patrick Kane. He made magic with the Bread Man, but Sharp won three Cups with the Blackhawks. Like Saad, it will feel as though Sharp never left as another cap casualty.
As with Saad, Bowman mentioned that the curtain call is not specifically intended to replicate a formula that once clicked. Ditto pertaining to Sharp, who did not absorb a severe financial dent to take a stroll down memory lane or because he likes the restaurants in Chicago. It's home to him and his family, it's where he played his best hockey, and his mission is to contribute in any role. He's 35, perhaps has lost a step but not his scent for the net.
Worth a mention: The Pittsburgh Penguins earned the Stanley Cup in 2009, the fourth full season for Sidney Crosby and third for Evgeni Malkin. Both superstars were rewarded with appropriate contracts, but for years thereafter, it was posited that the Penguins' payroll was top-heavy and the championship window was closed. In 2014, Jim Rutherford took over as general manager and gathered talent, much of it young. His acumen resulted in consecutive Cups in 2016 and 2017, with Crosby and Malkin still in leading roles. Whether the Penguins followed the Blackhawks' blueprint around Toews and Kane is immaterial. Fact is, Bowman's strategy to complement the core has not changed, although some names comprising it have.
Marcus Kruger, Darling, Hjalmarsson, Panarin and van Riemsdyk join a long list of individuals mandated to leave the destination hockey address that Chicago has become, but as the Blackhawks and Penguins have proven, the system is not so restrictive that it obviates championships. It only tests organizations, top to bottom, as never before. You can't keep everybody you want to keep, and to ponder what might have been if you could is folly.
As for Marian Hossa, a professional and future Hall of Famer who will miss this season because of a medical condition, you do not replace him. You just wish him good health.