Blackhawks' cap woes still here next year

While the Blackhawks scratch and claw to stay in the playoff hunt, the NHL trade deadline looms less than a week away.

They must soon decide whether to buy or sell, and while it's hard to fathom the Stanley Cup champs as sellers when they still have a shot at a decent seed in the tourney, a larger question must be asked.

It's uncomfortable and it's not something anyone wants to voice publicly, which is why you haven't heard this out loud yet:

How is it going to get any better next season?

The Hawks' cap problems that destroyed the Cup-winning roster aren't suddenly going away.

In fact, it might get even worse next season.

The Hawks will be at about $49 million for seven forwards, four defensemen and no goalies.

Assuming they can sign restricted free agent Corey Crawford for about $2 million — why does that sound familiar? — they'll be at $51 million before they approach Brent Seabrook.

And if they got Seabrook — another RFA — in the fold for about $5 million, they'd be at $56 million. If the cap goes up about another $3 million, to $63 million, the Hawks would have $7 million left to sign seven players.

And they're right back where they were this year, trying to fill in on the second and third lines with fourth-line players, and stuck with AHL defensemen playing significant minutes as 5s and 6s.

This is without including among the $56 million players such as restricted free agents Troy Brouwer, Viktor Stalberg, Jake Dowell and Michael Frolik, and unrestricted free agents Tomas Kopecky, Fernando Pisani, Ryan Johnson, Jordan Hendry, Nick Boynton and Marty Turco.

Seven players for $7 million — and likely even less after bonuses and use of the injury list.

Unless some of the kids they have coming are ready to assume crucial roles and take significant minutes, how is next year going to be much better when it sounds like the same problem?

So do the Hawks stand pat and struggle like this for another four or five years, or do they begin to think about how to extricate themselves from this mess?

And that means pondering a trade of Seabrook, or moving some other very large contracts off the books.

They might start by wondering who's untouchable, and it seems like a short list.

They have to keep Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Nick Leddy and Corey Crawford. The first two are expensive but productive, and the last two are going to improve with time and they work cheap.

Sharp, by the way, has only a year left at $4.2 million and then he's unrestricted in July 2012 — just in case your headache wasn't bad enough.

That might mean the Hawks have to trade him, because as it stands now they could only pay him if they intend to dress about three-quarters of a roster.

But for the moment, at least for the sake of argument, there's four untouchables.

It doesn't mean you want to trade Patrick Kane, who's undoubtedly the Hawks' most skilled offensive player. But he plays hard about half the time and his dedication to the game will remain in question until he grows up.

Still, it's hard to imagine the Hawks offensively without Kane, and Hawks officials privately say they wouldn't consider trading Kane at this time in his career.

Marian Hossa was a beast last year, and now he's either hurt or merely satisfied. His effort has been better the last couple of games, including in a victory Monday in St. Louis, but his contract probably makes it impossible to move him.

Brian Campbell and Duncan Keith carry huge salaries, and if you could deal either one you'd have to think about it, while Niklas Hjalmarsson also has been a huge disappointment.

Dave Bolland's a No. 3 center dressed up as a No. 2, but it has had an effect on his play and it's not his fault he's been forced into a role that doesn't fit.

You wonder who's truly off limits, and if the Hawks can afford to consider more than a handful in that category.

The way this was supposed to work was that the Hawks had secured their core. Their top nine — Toews, Kane, Sharp, Hossa, Bolland, Keith, Seabrook, Hjalmarsson and Campbell — were so good that they could fill in around them with spare parts and developing young players.

It has not worked, unless you consider fighting for their playoff lives with 22 games to go a good season.

It is not likely to improve next year when the same cap problems will be similar or even worse.

So some tough questions must be asked.

And the answers may not be what anyone in Chicago wants to hear.

brozner@dailyherald.com

ŸListen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM.