health will alter wealth
Seabrook, shaw, smith take up nearly 20% of hawks’ salary-cap space — unless they’re unfit to play
Even if the Blackhawks play it safe, their salary-cap situation remains tight. They have about $5.2 million left to re-sign restricted free agent Dylan Strome and leave room for in-season moves, according to CapFriendly.
But it’s possible they have upwards of $19 million in cap space right now. That depends on the injury status of three expensive veterans: Brent Seabrook, Andrew Shaw and Zack Smith.
If healthy, they each will make massive dents in the Hawks’ contract chart: Seabrook infamously has four years left on his contract with a $6.875 million cap hit; Shaw has two years left with a $3.9 million cap hit; Smith has one year left with a $3.25 million cap hit. Collectively, that’s nearly 20% of the team’s total cap hit.
They might not be healthy, though. And if they aren’t, they can be put on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) and not count against the cap.
Their penciled-in roster spots would need to be filled, and those replacements would mitigate the cap savings, but only slightly given that they likely would be AHL players or prospects making under $1 million each.
So the three players’ health will have a huge impact on the Hawks’ financial and roster-building outlook. Here’s what we know about how each player is doing.
brent Seabrook
The 35-year-old defenseman underwent surgeries on his right shoulder, right hip and left hip in December and January and hasn’t played since.
Seabrook participated in most of the Hawks’ July training camp but announced
shortly before the team departed for the playoff bubble that he didn’t feel game-ready enough to make the trip.
But he said he felt better physically than he had in years and expected to be ready for the 2020-21 season, if the Hawks still had a place for him. The relationship between Seabrook and Hawks management has become strained in recent years in large part because of his albatross of a contract.
With Seabrook enforcing a complete nomovement clause, it seems very unlikely he’ll be traded this offseason. In the meantime, he continues to prepare, and general manager Stan Bowman gave an update earlier this month.
“He was looking pretty good back in July; he was close to being ready to join us in Edmonton,” Bowman said. “It’s been a few months since then, and there’s been no setbacks. I know he’s training. I would imagine
“I feel healthy and am close to fully being healed from not just my last concussion but from others I have had over the years.”
Andrew Shaw
he’s on track.”
Thus, the Hawks are planning on Seabrook’s nearly $7 million cap hit returning to the books next season. Considering how tumultuous his last few years have been, though, no possibilities can be counted out.
andrew Shaw
The 29-year-old forward hasn’t played since Nov. 30, 2019, after suffering yet another concussion in a career plagued with them.
He posted an update on Instagram in July, announcing he’d forgo the playoffs but planned to be ready for the 2020-21 season.
“I feel healthy and am close to fully being healed from not just my last concussion but from others I have had over the years,” Shaw wrote. “We have come to the difficult decision that these extra five months until next season would be great for my health and recovery. I look forward to being back next season better and stronger than ever!”
Shaw hasn’t spoken publicly since, but a source said this week that he is “progressing very well.”
Thus, like with Seabrook, the Hawks are planning to have Shaw back. The fickleness of concussions, though, means it’s difficult to make any guarantees.
If Shaw does return, he could help the Hawks significantly with his unique combination of toughness and scoring. He set a career high with 47 points in 63 games with the Canadiens as recently as 2018-19.
zack Smith
The 32-year-old forward hasn’t played since undergoing back surgery at the beginning of March.
Initially expected to miss three-to-four months — the least amount of time out of the injured trio — Smith’s health now looks the iffiest.
He didn’t practice or play in the July-August NHL restart. And his agent, Allain Roy, gave an optimistic but far-from-certain update Monday.
“It’s going OK,” Roy said. “He’s improving every day. Not cleared yet. Nothing major to report there. The fact that we’ve got some extra time here [before next season], probably until January, will help. We’ll see where it goes.”
Smith’s timeframe has adversely affected the Hawks in numerous ways. Bowman probably would have bought out Smith, a move that would have saved $2.16 million, before the Oct. 8 deadline if he wasn’t still injured. That extra space could’ve given the Hawks enough flexibility and financial confidence to increase their offer to — and potentially resign— Corey Crawford.
Instead, the Hawks’ goalie situation is a mess, and they’re stuck with Smith, an aging and now injury-plagued wing who tallied just 11 points in 50 games last season.
The Hawks certainly will root for Smith to recover by January for his own sake, but if he doesn’t, the $3.25 million in LTIR savings would be quite nice.