In the salary cap era, only two teams have managed to win multiple Stanley Cups: the Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings. The Blackhawks have won three, while the Kings have won twice, so one could argue that Chicago has been the best team of the salary cap era.
They’ve done so by beautifully retooling their team year after year, and adding cheap players to their team that can succeed in depth roles. One thing that general manager Stan Bowman has avoided doing (for the most part) is handing out lucrative contracts to players that can be easily replaced.
For example, both Dave Bolland and Michael Frolik carried cap hits less than $3.5 million during the 2013 NHL season. After the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2013, both skaters were traded away to other teams in exchange for draft picks. Bolland signed a five-year, $5.5 million AAV contract with the Florida Panthers in 2014, while Frolik signed a five-year, $4.3 million AAV contract with the Calgary Flames in 2015.
Two players, (who ended up being replaced fairly easily), were traded away so that the roster could stay below the salary cap. This was even before Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane signed extensions that will see them cost $10.5 million against the salary cap until 2023. So at this point in time, the Blackhawks need every dollar that they can spare.
One way to save up money is by avoiding lengthy or lucrative contracts for depth players. In today’s NHL, players on entry-level contracts count as less than $1 million against the cap, per year. A collection of talented rookies can do an admirable job of filling out the bottom-six of a forward corps, or the bottom pairing on a blue line.
All of this makes the recent signing of Marcus Kruger intriguing, as the 25-year-old forward was recently signed to a deal that will pay him $3.1 million per year for thee years. Considering that the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup while Bolland made more money ($3.4 million per year) to play in the same role as Kruger, an initial glance at Kruger’s contract doesn’t raise any red flags.
Kruger is one of the best defensive forwards in the entire league, and there isn’t another center who can match up against tough competition, with defensive zone starts, and still come away with positive results.
He’s not being overpaid with his new contract, either. His salary bands show that he produces at a rate similar to that of other players making the amount of money he does, and that he holds his own when it comes to puck possession, despite getting buried with defensive assignments.
Any true Cup contender would love to have a player like Kruger, who can absorb tough usage and free up other players for more offensive minutes. At $3.1 million, the Kruger deal is a good one for almost any other team in the league, but for the Blackhawks, it’s a bit more complicated.
It’s important to remember that back when Bolland was on the team, Toews and Kane each made $4.2 million less. That’s $8.4 million total that Chicago is paying their superstars, and $8.4 million less to give to other players on the roster.
For some more perspective, we can consider that Kruger’s contract makes him the fifth-highest paid forward on Chicago’s roster. Toews, Kane, Marian Hossa, and Artem Anisimov are the only forwards will make more than Kruger next year, barring any other signings the Blackhawks may make.
Kruger is excellent at what he does, and his contract isn’t going to be a gross overpayment. The Swedish center will be worth the money that he’s going to be paid. But for the Blackhawks, giving a third- or fourth-line center that much money could turn ugly, especially if contract negotiations with a player such as Artemi Panarin turn ugly.
Given Stan Bowman’s track record and Kruger’s performance over the course of his career, we have ample reason to believe that the Kruger signing is one that will help the Blackhawks. It’s not an overpayment, and Kruger is one of the league’s best shutdown centers.
That doesn’t mean that the Blackhawks won’t end up eventually needing some extra dollars to pay an elite player and fit under the salary cap. If they do, Kruger might have to go, and as we saw with the Patrick Sharp trade, it’s hard to get fair value in return for a salary dump.
It’s hard to pay two superstars $10.5 million per year, and still pay depth forwards the money they’re worth. This is what the Blackhawks are doing, and it will be interesting to see how it works out for them.
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