How the looming salary cap boost can shape the Chicago Blackhawks offseason plans

The Chicago Blackhawks already had plenty of salary cap space to work with this offseason. All the league's announcement of the cap increasing this offseason did was give the Hawks even more money to work with.

The Blackhawks will go into the offseason with a projected $30 million in cap space according to Spotrac. That is the fifth most projected cap space.

The dream right now is using that space to sign top free agent Mitch Marner. However, a contender like the Carolina Hurricanes has just a bit more in cap space, so maybe they could make a better financial offer.

Still, the Hawks have money to play with, and they should be planning on using it to upgrade the top six.

The increased cap space gives general manager Kyle Davidson two paths to go down this offseason.

He could push most of his salary cap chips to the center and go after Marner. Maybe, he could split up the money and get two premium free agents who might not demand such a larger deal like Marner is rumored to be looking to get.

Nikolaj Ehlers would be an ideal linemate for an emerging star center such as Frank Nazar. Brock Boeser could continue the trend of players leaving Vancouver and enjoying success.

However, Davidson tried spreading his cap resources around last offseason and the team made no progress in the rebuild.

Maybe signing a big-ticket free agent like Marner could have the same impact as when the team added Marian Hossa. However, Hossa was the missing piece the organization had to add to win a title. The Hawks still need this year's draft to add more core players.

That is why another spread the resources around this offseason might be a more prudent use of the salary cap.

The cap going up over the next three years gives the Hawks an even bigger boost in the long run.

One task on Davidson's checklist will be to extend Connor Bedard with his rookie deal set to expire after next season.

Despite a sophomore slump because of high standards, Bedard should get a major extension in terms of years and pay.

If the cap hits the maximum of $104 million in 2026-27 and $113 million in 2027-28, then the Blackhawks will not have to sweat fitting in his extension along with the other extensions young core pieces will also be getting.

Pretty much, every Blackhawks fan should root for these youngsters to reach their ceilings and the salary cap to reach those heights to avoid the cap headaches the team experienced during the Stanley Cup-winning days.