It’s Official: Blackhawks Walk Away From Niemi Award, Sign Turco To One Year Deal

 

The Chicago Blackhawks had until Monday afternoon to determine if they would accept Antti Niemi’s $2.75 million arbitration award, or step away from him and seek a cheaper replacement in between the pipes. Reports surfaced late Sunday evening from WGN and relayed by The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta that Chicago may have signed former-Dallas Star Marty Turco to a one year deal at $1.75 million. Pagnotta later shot down these reports as inaccurate. But they weren’t far off the mark.

It was officially announced on Monday that the Blackhawks did indeed ink Turco to a one year contract, though it was for an even better $1.3 million. Chicago subsequently stepped away from Niemi’s award and the 26-year old is now free to join any of the other 29 teams in the NHL as an unrestricted free agent. He becomes the eighth member of the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks team to depart this summer.

“We exhausted all of our options to make this work,” Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman said in reference to Niemi on a conference call Monday. “This is the direction that made the most sense. You have to have flexibility within your roster and this was the best way to defend the Cup.”

Bowman is now ready to shift his attention toward Cristobal Huet and the $5.625 million he is set to earn in each of the next two seasons. Bowman is perfectly happy with a combination of Turco and the $800,000 Corey Crawford, who will combine to earn less than the $2.75 million Niemi would have made alone had Chicago accepted his award. Therefore, there is no reason to keep Huet around and getting his salary off the books is essential to become cap compliant. According to CapGeek, the Blackhawks would go from being about $2.7 million over the $59.4 million maximum allowable payroll to $3,121,744 under it.

The option of waiving Huet and placing him in the minors has existed for a while. Additionally, there is some talk that Bowman may try to work with some teams in the KHL to take him off their hands. Either way, it’s safe to say he will not be suiting up in Chicago next season, while the new duo of Turco and Crawford are set to sport the crease for the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

That 1-2 punch is far from a downgrade for Chicago. Even at just two weeks shy of his 35th birthday, Turco is still an elite netminder in the NHL and was let go of by the Stars simply as a means to get younger. He still possesses incredible No. 1 ability with plenty of postseason experience. The only thing he lacks is a Stanley Cup, which he hopes to obtain as member of the Blackhawks next season.

“We spoke to four different teams and turned down different opportunities and amounts,” Turco’s agent Ken Overhardt told Jesse Rogers of ESPN Radio 1000 and ESPNChicago.com. “He turned down teams with higher considerations and longer terms ... Marty’s priority was joining a team that could win a Stanley Cup, and he chose Chicago.”

As far as Niemi is concerned, he is now without a home thanks in large part to the gamble his agent Bill Zito and he took this summer. It’s understandable that he wanted a healthy raise form the $826,875 he earned last season after backstopping the Blackhawks to a championship. But seeking $4 million without even an ounce of compassion for the team’s rough financial situation was not a smart play. Had he been a veteran with several years of NHL experience, maybe that kind of demand would have been called for. But with just 42 regular season games of experience and plenty of flawed performances during the playoffs, it was not wise to push Bowman toward a long-term, high-money contract. Goaltenders are always susceptible to flash-in-the-pan success. If that happened with Niemi, it would have severely handicapped an organization already in a tough cap position.

Zito believes he’ll have little trouble finding Niemi a new team before the start of the season, according to Rogers. But it has already been proven that teams are not willing to spend top dollar for goaltending this summer. The Philadelphia Flyers, who had long been believed to be seeking Turco, have already stated they are not interested in signing Niemi, according to CSNPhilly's Tim Panaccio. And no other team could use a starter as much as them. Zito will definitely have his work cut out for him.