Chicago Blackhawks: Free Agency Wishlist

Roadblocks Facing The Blackhawks In Free Agency

Marian Hossa Health Concerns

As mentioned before, the Blackhawks are facing a major issue with future hall-of-fame winger Marian Hossa. It was disclosed earlier this month that Hossa would miss the entire 2017-18 season due to skin allergies and could potentially be done playing hockey for good. The loss of Hossa not only leaves a giant hole in the roster, but also gives the Blackhawks a ton of salary cap issues. Chicago’s most likely option regarding Hossa is to place him on Long-term injured reserve, but the NHL is reviewing their ability to make that roster move. If, and more likely when, Hossa is placed on LTIR, his salary cap hit will come off the books, but not likely until the beginning of the season.

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Rumors, rumors, rumors

• With Marian Hossa included, there have been a plethora of trade rumors swirling around the Blackhawks this off-season, most concerning the salary cap hell that the team is in due to over-stuffed contracts. Most notably Brent Seabrook, Marcus Kruger, and Artem Anisimov have been linked to potentially be on the move from Chicago. Even after the Blackhawks made huge deals to send Niklas Hjalmarsson to Arizona and sending Artemi Panarin and Tyler Motte to Columbus for Brandon Saad and Anton Forsberg, there are still deals rumored to be in the works. As stated before, a deal to send Kruger out of Chicago is all but done according to multiple reports, but more could be on the way as soon as the NHL Free Agency window opens.

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