If Eddie Lack has a good season with Carolina, he's going to get a lot more than 2.3m a year as a free agent. Calgary has no signed goalies next year. Going to Calgary would really stick it to the Canucks.

Buyout Crawford? I know the Hawks' brass was very upset with his apparent stupor at a concert resulting in a non-hockey injury but he has helped lead his team to 2 Cups in the past three seasons. As far as Kane's mega deal being terminated, I imagine Bowman, McCub and Rocky are watching the Richards proceedings quite closely.

In any event, I still believe it would be good business to get rid of another "big" contract prior to this coming season.

The Crawford buyout isn't against his performance, moreso his cap hit and to a larger extent his term. Freeing up money for TT, Dano, Pokka, TVR & other youth players + accounting for the eventual cap recapture penalties from when Hossa retires was the priority here.



Fixed to a more realistic deal/term

If you add the buyout, and Lack's salary, you havent saved anything against the cap.

Crawford is a proven #1 goaltender with value. He can easily be traded.

At 6m a year, Crawford can't be traded easily.

None of the Hawks who have any value can be traded easily.