While it is highly unlikely Crawford and Keith waive their NMC, it would help in these scenarios, now and long term. The two Russains may need to be traded together. I doubt the Hawks can afford Panarin so this off season would be the better time to consider the future. Although there seems to be $4.3M in cap space, if I'm not mistaken, Panarin's $2.7M in met bonuses would also be included against next year's cap.

These re terrible and STUPID. What's next Kane for Nugent-Hopkins?

Appreciate the feedback, Nick. Except you did not expound on your opinion.

I'll do it for him.

Keith is on arguably the best deal in the NHL right now and is easily one of the top defenders in the league - why would the Hawks trade him? It makes literally no sense from a cap or hockey perspective. Considering what type of shape he's in, he's likely going to be effective until the end of his contract, at which point his cap hit will look like nothing for a bottom 4 guy. And if he was ever to be traded, he would certainly return more than Buff and a 2nd. I find it funny that you undervalue Keith, but then think Buff is going to pull in both Hall and Nurse lol. On top of that, Nurse is a few years away from being a top level defenseman, so he's going to be hitting his prime when the forward stars of this team are on the decline. So you've removed Keith but not replaced him, so you've made the defense weaker than it was this past summer.

And how is Getzlaf worth 3 NHL players of that caliber? Especially when all of them are younger and one out produced him by a lot. Getzlaf would certainly take a haul for any team to obtain, but that's undervaluing the hell of the Hawks players. The fact that Getzlaf has folded the last few playoffs makes it especially silly to give up several younger players for him. Plus, the center depth is now pretty shot outside of the top 2 (Kero hasn't even proven he can play in the NHL, he was pretty horrible his brief time last year; Ras is just so-so or Q would have played him over Teravainen).

Last, I don't get why people think Motte is going to walk onto the team and into the top 6. Most scouts believe that 'long-term Motte projects as a lower line player'. Seriously, go read some of his scouting reports (one of which I literally quoted just now). I know some are thinking it's possible based on his AHL production, but that's silly because 1) small sample size and 2) the AHL is not a great indicator of NHL success (see Pirri, Morin). He's probably a year or so away from even making the big club, like pretty much every recent NCAA kid the team has signed outside of TVR (who was older). Motte could be good, but that's asking a lot from a young guy.

Do you honestly think that team above, especially the defense, is better than the alternative?

Idk why that double posted :o

Thanks for the detailed response, Lly. What exactly is the alternative? What we just experienced in the first round? Is this current team, the signed 17 which account for $71M of the proposed $74.0M cap limit, the basis for a 4th Stanley Cup next season and/or championship calibre projections for the next 7 years, I would like to know how that math works! Because it simply doesn't. The rest of the league has already caught up with Chicago, whether we care to believe/admit that or not. And part of the problem is the core! The issue is who stays and who goes, in light of the hard cap. The same issue almost every summer.

At 32 years young, Duncan Keith certainly can fulfill his end of the deal, provided he doesn't go samurai any more. (One or two more incidents and we all may forget about Raffi Torres, I fear!). While his cap hit is an absolute bargain for what he has meant to the Hawks, I doubt Seabrook or Hjalmarsson could entice a better return than what I proposed. And like the Sharp fiasco, no GM will ever give Bowman anywhere near the proper return for any of his core should he chose to move on from any more of them. Again, all three could stay yet is anything gained going forward?

Panarin and Anisimov just may be joined at the hip. When Breadman is gone after next season (again, no cap money!), is AA still the cat's meow on the second line? Kruger is overpaid by $1.1M for what he brings to this team. That is, being a 4LC and a solid PKer. Why not package all three for a true 2LC, giving the Hawks perhaps the best 1-2 centers in the league for the next few years? I honestly think Anaheim will blow their core up this summer! You say I undervalue the guys. Kero was every bit as good as Kruger has been in a very limited role at comparable experience in the NHL. He was also robbed of at least four additional points in his very short stay not to mention the fact that he did earn Quenneville's trust to kill penalties as a rookie. He'll be paid about 5X less than what Kruger is due next season. Because Bowman went for it this season, Rasmussen, if re-signed, may be the de facto 3LC since Danault is gone and Schmaltz is not available yet. Personally, I would be fine with Toews, Getzlaf, Rasmussen and Kero next season and beyond if that is how it played out. The top two should account for at least 140 points on my roster. How many points did 19&15 have this past year?

In case you forgot, Dan Carcillo was the 1LW for the opener of the shortened season in 2013. Because that position was utterly depleted by our beloved GM last summer, I simply do not see who else fits in there right away. Maybe Panik if re-signed. Maybe Shaw but I think he is gone with a Garbutt or a Sekac returning in a trade. That leaves Marchant, I mean Gallagher, no I mean Motte who just may surprise us all right away. After all, who ever thought Andy Shaw could play up there with the big boys?!

You think my roster is a joke. You wonder how much worse the defense would be if Keith is gone and Nurse becomes a regular. To that, I can only say, trade windows are only open for a moment. Then they are sealed shut. All of my combined moves does change the complexity of team yet I think it would be closer to winning again than if nothing substaintial is done. Which brings us to reality. Is this team able to rebound, to sustain itself with, maybe ,10 guys who are actually counted on by their coach? Or will the GM have to put his big boy pants on and make some truly unpleasant and unpopular decisions that change the appearance of the team while getting better control of the cap?

Gotta love ArmchairGM!

The team they had this year was pretty good - they finished 5th and unfortunately that meant facing the 3rd best team. And yes, the cap is a problem every year and yet they still keep winning lol. People said thing when the Hawks didn't repeat in 2014, yet they were back with the cup the next year. Just because you don't see how it can be possible, doesn't mean it isn't.

That deal for Keith is just dumb, though. Keith, Seabrook, and Hjammer are one of the best top 3 defensemen in the league still and they have enough cheap young players to supplement that high end talent. TVR is about a year behind Hjammer's development and 25 was the year he took off, so I expect good things from him coming up. Pokka has some high end talent too that could translate well plus a year for Gus to grow as well. All d-cores have to go through some growing pains - it took a year after Oduya was traded for he and Hjammer to become a shutdown pair machine. And like I said before, Nurse is still a few years away from being the elite defenseman he'll eventually be, so he doesn't really help with the 'win now' mode especially when the only other way you've offset Keith's lose is with Quincey, which is laughable lbr.

What exactly do you have against Anisimov? He doesn't need to be the 'cat's meow', he needs to be a competent 2C with a good cap hit, which is what he is. Kane hasn't had that type of chemistry with a center outside of Toews before and that's including guys he's been paired with in the Olympics. Richards comes close, but not quite there defensively. Even if Panarin is traded, getting ride of Anisimov on top would be silly. It's an unnecessary move. It's funny you bring up points like Getzlaf has all that many more than Toews (5 whole points), and we all know from watching the games that a big reason Panarin and Kane had as many points as they did is because Anisimov was screening the goalie. The Ducks also just wouldn't trade Getzlaf to one of their biggest rivals.

Kruger is more than a 4C and solid PKer, come on lol. Kruger is one of the best shutdown guys in the league and his possession driving numbers are ridiculously good. His neutral zone transition are only second to Kane on the team, which is kind of crazy to think about. Do you know why the Hawks have been top 5 in offensive zone starts in the league since 2013? Because Kruger's line gets them out of the DZ so Kane/Toews can come on and do their job. It doesn't matter that he doesn't put up points himself - Q doesn't expect that and neither should the fans. Kruger is worth that money because he makes the other lines able to do what they do best. The idea that you think Kero was as good as Kruger is kind of crazy to me. Kero had some of the worst possession numbers on the team in much easier zone deployments against much weaker quality of competition. Q was playing pretty much every rookie on the PK while they were up because he was seeing all their abilities. Are you mixing Kero up with Danault? Even still, the team's overall possession took a huge hit this season once Kruger was injured and Danault didn't really help much there. Kruger may seem like he's just a bottom 6 guy, but his impact has a trickle up effect on the other lines that is statistically hard to replicate.

And the 1LW thing is kind of silly to be upset at Bowman about - Saad wasn't going to sign a deal the Hawks could afford and Bowman got several good pieces back for him. The fact that Toews-Hossa couldn't work with another LW is not on Bowman - I mean, Kane was able to make do with at least one bottom 6 guy on his line for like 4 years, including guys like Handzus. How in the world would he have known that two elite players like Toews-Hossa couldn't make it work with the assortment of guys available when Kane has made it look easy for a while now? I don't think Bowman is any master GM or anything, but you're certainly selling him short.

Your proposed roster is a joke because it's not realistic in any way. I guess that's the point of playing Armchair GM, but it seems kind of points. So what if they didn't win for a 4th time in 7 years, the core is still in their prime and it's totally possible to work in the supplement players to support them to win another cup. It may not happen, but anything is possible with the current core.

Okay, Lly, you win!