Niemi Awarded $2.75 Million Salary, 'Hawks Have 48 Hours To Decide

 

The most anticipated salary arbitration hearing this summer involved the Chicago Blackhawks and their Stanley Cup winning rookie netminder, Antti Niemi. Sporting the crease for Chicago’s first hockey championship since 1961 gave the 26-year old Finnish goalie enough leverage to seek a healthy raise from the $826,875 he earned last season. Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman, who is dealing with heavy salary cap constraints, was hesitant to pay starter-level money to a young goalie with still limited playing experience in the NHL and occasional flaws during the postseason run.

Both sides presented their cases before an arbitrator on Thursday. Niemi reportedly sought a $4 million salary for next year and Bowman looked to pay out closer to $1.5 million, according to Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com. Forty-eight hours later, it was announced that the arbitrator met them in the middle and awarded Niemi a $2.75 million salary for the 2010-11 campaign.

Bowman stated in a conference call Thursday evening that the size of the award would play a large role in determining Niemi’s future with the club. The entire offseason has been spent dumping salary in order to become cap compliant. Approximately two months shy of the start of the regular season, CapGeek has the Blackhawks still over $400,000 above the $59.4 million maximum allowable payroll. Accepting this award would move the team’s payroll to about $3.15 million above the salary cap.

A $2.75 million salary for Niemi is far more reasonable than the $4 million he was seeking, but it can still be viewed as a bit too rich for Chicago's blood right now. One thing is for certain with this award, however. The decision Bowman must now make it based entirely on money, not merit. Even with just 42 regular season games of NHL experience and some poor showings in the playoffs, the impact a Stanley Cup can have on a goaltender is immeasurable and the several times Niemi did come up big for the Blackhawks cannot be overlooked. A sub-$3 million wage is fair.

But Bowman must still weight the benefits of continuing to dump talent in order to retain another. He's had to make fiscally responsible moves all summer, and adding Niemi back into the fold will force him to let go of even more high-priced talent. Plus, he'll just have to deal with this problem again next summer when Niemi can become an unrestricted free agent. The Blackhawks should have more cap flexibility by then. However, they will also need to sign defenseman Brent Seabrook to a new contract based on his pending restricted free agency status.

If Bowman comes to the conclusion that he can't afford to accept the award, he can either deal off Niemi in a trade to acquire some assets for the loss or step away completely and allow Niemi to explore his own options as an unrestricted free agent. Bowman has 48 hours to make his decision.

If he elects to let Niemi go and does not obtain a viable goaltender via the trade route, he can look toward the free agent market for a replacement. Marty Turco and Jose Theodore are the likeliest remaining candidates that could immediately step in to a starter role with Chicago and probably do so at a cheaper price tag than Niemi. The Blackhawks could also choose to ride out Cristobal Huet, who earns $5.625 million in each of the next two seasons, and seek a minimum salary backup to complete the 1-2 punch.

Burying Huet's contract in the minors has long been an option, as well. And it would allow the Blackhawks to keep Niemi and possess about $2.5 million in cap space left over. But there has been no indication of the Blackhawks being ready to head down that road and Huet's spot on the roster is still intact to this point.