So in your world Kane is worth $3.75M a year more than Toews , who is worth only $750K more than Brandon Saad ? That's pretty funny .

Take Hossa off of Toews line and he's a league average center. There's no taking away from his 3 championships, he's just not worth 10.5 M as a defensive center, Kane however is a goal scoring machine and those cost a premium.

MUH LEADERSHIP
MUH DEFENSE

They could use his absurd cap hit to get 2 top 6 centers.

I think Kane and Toews should have taken a mil less each. The 6.75 number is insane though. Crawford, yea wayyyyy overpaid. and Bickell, ugh 4 million dollar turd.

If you think Toews is overpaid you obviously haven't watched the blackhawks play without him. He's the best in every zone on the ice. Playing with Hossa doesn't change the way he plays. He plays with Kane at times and still dominates. Best Captain in all of sports and a selke finalist every single year while still putting up numbers. He could easily have 100 point seasons but he takes pride in helping his defense exit the zone by getting below the goal line to get the puck.

He is the most overrated player in the league

only breaks 70 points once

PPG player once in a lockout season

no Hart or Lindsay Awards (4th place in 2013 for former, not even nominated by players for latter)
has never scored 40 or more goals

most undeserving Selke winner (Bergeron should've won it in 2013)

praised for defense yet starts most in the offensive zone (Kruger takes defensive zone draws) and isn't nearly as good as Patrice Bergeron at defense

considered top 3 player because of muh leadership and muh intangibles even though leadership isn't measurable and intangibles are retarded

claimed to be great leader even though he's a little bitch that whines all the time (he had to be comforted by Brent Seabrook after throwing a temper tantrum after getting penalized against Detroit because Zetterberg was destroying him)

Has one Messier award despite being praised for leadership

makes 10.5 million a year next year even though better centers like Giroux, Crosby, and Getzlaf are cheaper and part of why Chicago will be in cap hell

not even top 5 at his position

Keith, Kane, Hjalmarsson, even fucking Crawford has been more important in their runs

plays on absolutely stacked team, doesn't put up big numbers

mediocre playoff performer, Keith or Kane should have won the Smythe in 2010

Seriously what is so "great" about Toews? All I hear are the Cups, the medals, intangibles, leadership and so on. He's considered a top 3 player in the league but doesn't have the numbers to back it up. He is the reason why guys like Ryan Getzlaf, Claude Giroux, and Steven Stamkos aren't nearly as recognized. Nobody would know who he is if he played for say, Carolina. Put Bergeron in Toews' place in the beginning and the results are the same, put Crosby in Toews' place from the beginning and they win even more, maybe even repeat. Oh and he's overpaid as fuck. He does not deserve 10.5 million a year.

While I would have tried to get both Kane and Toews for around $9.5 million, your criticism of Toews is a little over the top.

If you want statistical evidence of Toews value go to this site: http://ownthepuck.blogspot.ca/
Look up the HERO chart for both Toews and Kane. Toews is clearly an elite two-way centre who puts up very good numbers.

You actually helped prove my point. He is an above average forward making elite center money. His possession numbers are inflated because Hossa was the PDO leader and was generating all he opportunities I.E do all the heavy lifting as proven by your own source.

Other than the fact you completely disregarded all of my points (because you can't refute them) it was a good attempt.

Those possession numbers are impact on linemates. i.e. how much of an impact does Toews have on the players he plays with, and in this regard he is clearly elite and superior to Hossa (who I think is an amazing player as well). My point was that although he doesn't put up elite offensive numbers, the players that do (like Kane), can't match his two-way game.

Your other points aren't really points, they're simply your opinion without facts to back them up. Although I do agree the "intangibles" thing is kind of dumb.

Fair enough, I'm not saying he's a negative player all I'm saying is 10.5 M is over the top for a guy who doesn't produce like an elite center.

Agree to disagree.

I think this disagreement will be somewhat settled when we see what kind of money Anze Kopitar gets. I think he's about as close a comparable as you can find. I'd be surprised if gets Toews money to be honest.

Alex you either know nothing about hockey or you're just oblivious to statistical knowledge. If you have ever played hockey you are clearly one of those players that has never understood the sport and how to play.

I will start by saying that absolutely nobody who understands hockey should even agree to disagree with you. Toews is one of the elite centers in the game. He has not played with Hossa (my all time favorite player) his entire career. They have been switched many of times from first and second line. Recently they have been on the same line almost all the time though because they are both top 4 forwards on the team because they both play BOTH ends of the ice. Patrick Kane, love the kid, only plays ONE end of the ice thus why he is a second line forward or a first line with very strong two way forwards (Toews, Hossa, or Saad).

Now I'm going to take a break from my rant to show you something:
http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/stats.htm
Please, please, please go look at these stats from the last 5 or 6 years. Season and Playoffs. Toews is in the top 3 in BOTH points and +/- about 90% of the time over the last 5-6 years. Coincidence? NO! Where is Kane on the +/- sheet each of these years. Nonexistent. But somehow in your mind he deserves way more than Toews? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Now I will say that Kane and Toews contracts are a little hefty. 10.5 a piece is a large amount of a teams salary for only two players. They should have take about 9.5 mil a piece and the team would be in a much better situation. However, as the salary cap continues to rise EACH year players are going to be getting payed even more money so in several years that 10.5 million while still in the heart of their careers will not seem like so much.

As for Crawford, I personally am not a huge fan because of his inconsistencies. He lets up some weak brutal goals during the season and even some times during the playoffs. BUT, he is one of the most clutch goaltenders in the league. And when it comes down to it, look at Lundqvist, clutch goaltending is what wins championships. Lundqvist is an A+ goaltender, but he is not clutch and doesn't win in the playoffs because of it. I wouldn't have payed Crawfish 6 mil though. Around 4.75 to 5.25 would seem fair to me.

Your projected team above... Makes little to no sense as their is no agitator/checking line. The 3rd and fourth lines are just a scramble of players that you put together.

Nice try but there's absolutely ZERO on ice justification for that shit contract, its purely because of the fact he's the second face of the franchise.

He's the cancer that is killing a dominant and exciting Blackhawk team.

Kesler provides an interesting comparison. Toews is superior offensively, defensively, and he's 3 years younger. If Kesler is worth $6.75mil, I don't think Toews' contract is too much of a stretch. I still think $9.5 mil is better number for both he and Kane, but not a huge difference.

Trollin'

In case you missed it:

http://www.csnchicago.com/blackhawks/blackhawks-jonathan-toews-wins-espy-best-nhl-player

He won a popularity contest on a network that doesn't give a shit about Hockey, congrats.

He's not even the best player on his team, let alone the entire league.

lets all agree to disagree

lets look at the big picture here

the top 1 2 in the nhl

toews/kane = 3 cups they are paid $21
getz/perry = 1 cup......they are paid $16.875
crosby/malkin = 1 cup.....they are paid $18.2
ovechkin/backstom=0 cups they are paid........$16.238

so for about 2.5 million extra a player you have 3x they cups?

ALSO kane and toews have similar playoff numbers and both have a playoff mvp

you cant argue success they won 3 cups in the last 6 years

except you know they were paid 11 mil while they won cups. They've won zero cups while being paid 21.

point being that 3 cups = 21 million name any other player in the nhl that has had the same success as those two?

actually in the history of the nhl name the names.....thats why they are paid and they are still a playoff contender this year

okay a better way to look at it is when they won all the cups they were only getting paid 6 million thats unreal.....they were greatly underpaid so if you wanna compare the numbers of their entire career the average is only 8.25 million ( if you average they first underpaid contract to the new "over paid" contract)

so again stop they did something that probably wont be done again for decades

You know what really pisses me off? They actually had a chance to continue being a dominant team but instead they lose Saad, Sharp, Richards, Vermette, Oduya, Timmonen & Johns all because Bowman decided he needs to hand Toews a giant portion of the Cap on an already Cap strapped team. If Toews would have taken 9 M he would have made that 1.5 M back in sponsorships EASILY. As soon as Hossa retires the Hawks are facing MASSIVE Cap Recapture penalties that could shatter the core. The Hawks won't have the 7-8M that Seabrook is expecting on the open market, Teravainen looks to be a stud player who needs a raise. All of these issues and many more will start piling up because just as quickly as Toews breathed life into this franchise... he will just as quickly give it the kiss of death.

i bet hawks win another cup in 5 years or less. toews is the best captain in the nhl just deal with it hes worth every bit of 10.5

I would have agreed with you had he not been paid 10.5 Million. Anywhere between 6-8 M would have been fair but it's just flat out lunacy.

Hossa will retire prior to 2021-22 causing massive cap-recapture penalties. Do you honestly believe that at age 43 Hossa will be playing in the NHL still? Let alone be worth $5,275,000 per season?
Seabrook needs more money next year.
Teravainen, Dano, TVR & Panarin come of ELC's soon.

There is so much going right for this team in terms of star caliber players and team chemistry. But face the facts. The cap is diminishing. If the players did not elect to use their salary elevator the Hawks would be in an even worse spot. The Cap is trending downwards and that spells trouble for all cap strapped teams.

Your argument would have so much more credibility if your assessment wasn't so over the top. Two things,

1. If you're not willing to pay Toews more than $8million a season he almost certainly leaves for another team. The bidding war that would ensue would almost certainly end up with Toews getting a similar contract. And if Toews leaves you have nobody to play centre beyond a 3rd line role. Finding 1st-line centremen in the NHL is very difficult. I think you're right that $10.5 is probably too much, and I would have bargained a little bit more with him and Kane if I were Bowman but even $9-9.5 would be a hometown discount.

2. The cap is not diminishing. It's not going up as much as people thought because of the CDN$ but don't be ridiculous. Even accounting for standard inflation the contract becomes the equivalent of $9,5million in 5 years.