Seth Jones’ production relative to his contract has always earned him scorn from the Chicago Blackhawks faithful.
However, his carp hit might not be such of an albatross with the salary cap set to increase next season.
The cap is projected to jump at least $4 million next season from the current $88 million. Spotrac estimates it could be as high as $95 million. That would give the Hawks about $34.6 million in cap space this offseason.
Jones’ $9.5 million cap hit would still take up the most space, but it would drop to a tick under 10%. Considering that is the going rate for a team’s defenseman, whether you think he is one or not, that is not a salary the Hawks need to get out from under.
The Hawks do not have terrible contracts that it would be nice to offload at the trade deadline or before the draft.
The one thing you have to give Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson credit is how he has managed the team’s cap situation.
It has been hard watching the Blackhawks on most nights, but he has not tied the team down during the early stages of the rebuild with a terrible contract on the books. He inherited Jones’ cap hit, but otherwise, he mostly got out from Jake McCabe’s deal and has kept his free-agent signings to being on the books for no more than four years.
Even Tyler Bertuzzi’s $5.5 million cap hit through 2028 is not terrible considering it only eats up around six percent of the team’s salary cap space. Defenseman T.J. Brodie has been terrible this season, but he is only making $3.75 next season. That is not nearly as bad as when the Ottawa Senators had Nikita Zaitsev doing next to nothing with a $4.5 million AAV.
That was a bigger choke on the Senators’ cap that they attached a draft pick in a trade with the Blackhawks just to get him off their books.
Connor Murphy’s $4.4 million cap hit would be nice to shed, but he is only on the books for another season.
The Blackhawks have just four guaranteed contracts after next season, so it is not like they are desperate to keep their salary cap situation flexible.
Connor Bedard will have to get paid after next season. So does Frank Nazar. However, Bedard’s deal is likely the only one of the two that will reach being over $10 million.
While it would be nice to move Jones, Brodie, and Murphy to free up more cap space for this offseason, the Blackhawks would likely have to retain salary or attach draft picks in any deal.
They only have one open spot left to retain salary at the trade deadline. The Hawks are still at the point in their rebuild that they should not be entertaining trading away draft capital to free up cap space.
The only reason the Hawks should entertain trading those veteran blueliners is because they are getting in the way of younger defensemen getting ice time.
