In early 2009, it dawned on me that the Chicago Blackhawks could suffer from some serious salary cap headaches this coming summer. With blogs such as Puck Daddy taking a look at the 'Hawks cap situation, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit some observations that will shed some light (or more accurately, accentuate the horror) on the brutal summer up ahead for the 'Hawks.

In Wyshynski's piece, he mentions that Chicago is on pace to have about $13.5 million in cap space next year. The crux of the article focuses on the challenge of fitting two big names (Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews) along with arguably the Hawks' most stable and promising defenseman (Duncan Keith) into that tough little window.

The crazy thing, though, is that the situation for Chicago is potentially even worse than PD and others thought. Follow the (read more) link to find out why ...

Pundits need to keep in mind that Chicago will need to fill at least a 20 man roster, not just re-sign as many of those three blue chip players as they can. Many Chicago fans and bloggers seem to think that the problem could be solved by moving one or two bloated contracts. The sad fact is that, honestly, the situation will likely resemble a fire sale.

This is what happens when you never bite the bullet and let good (but ultimately replaceable) players go. Instead, the team's middle ranks are clogged by solid guys who shouldn't be making $2 to $3 million per year.

People beat up on Boston for letting Phil Kessel go, but in the long run someone had to go and their mid-to-long term outlook is promising. Just look at the Pittsburgh Penguins; instead of clinging to useful, popular players like Ryan Malone they made the right choice by only giving core young players big contracts.

Take a look at Chicago's outlook at CapGeek.com (click here to see the full page with the cap hits in one spot). Focus your attention on the players who have contracts through the 2010-11 season:

What you'll see is a list of 8 forwards, 4 defensemen and 1 goalie amounting to a payroll of about $43 million. There are a few things you need to remember, then:

1. The "roughly $13.5 million" figure is based on the salary cap ceiling remaining the same. If the NBA is terrified about its salary cap ceiling plummeting due to a bad economy, it's probably pretty safe to say that NHL GMs should show some concern too.
2. Don't forget: the goal isn't just to sign Kane and/or Toews and/or Keith. If the Blackhawks roster were to stay the same (which obviously it won't) the team would need to add 6 skaters and 1 goalie simply to hit the 20-player mark. Even if all the remaining contracts are at the league minimum level, that will still knock off at least a million or two.
3. Let's be honest: no one is going to take Cristobal Huet or Brian Campbell off Chicago's hands so let me repeat this again: it's probably not going to be about which one of the Seabrook-Byfuglien-Sharp-Versteeg-Bolland-etc. group will go but perhaps who will be able to stay.
4. Now, one positive thing is that the team could move otherwise worthy players to the minors (if they clear waivers). It's pretty sad when you're resorting to those measures (I'm looking at you, Lucky Lou).