On Tuesday, yet another selection sheet rookie was taken off an NHL roster, as Kyle Beach was sent back to his junior team in the WHL. At 19, Beach may need some more maturing before he reaches the big club and that's what he'll get in the junior system.Beach was among seven players that were cut from the Blackhawks roster, leaving the active camp roster at 30 players, including both Marian Hossa and Adam Burish, who are both now on the injured reserve, both qualifying for long-term injury cap savings.
| Forwards | Defense | Goaltenders |
| Marian Hossa | Duncan Keith | Cristobel Huet |
| Patrick Kane | Cam Barker | Antti Niemi |
| Jonathan Toews | Brent Seabrook | Corey Crawford |
| Kris Versteeg | Brian Campbell | |
| Andrew Ladd | Aaron Johnson | |
| Dave Bolland | Niklas Hjalmarsson | |
| Patrick Sharp | Richard Petiot | |
| Dustin Byfuglien | Brent Sopel | |
| Troy Brouwer | Jordan Hendry | |
| John Madden | ||
| Tomas Kopecky | ||
| Colin Fraser | ||
| Ben Eager | ||
| Adam Burish | ||
| Jack Skille | ||
| Jake Dowell | ||
| Danny Bois | ||
| Evan Brophey |
The Blackhawks will have a different flavour to them in the 2010 season, especially with some of their new acquisitions. Whether or not they will be spicy enough for a long run in the playoffs is yet to be determined, but they should have enough kick to be a good team to pick out some of your fantasy players from. One name that pops out at me on this list to me is John Madden, who takes his defensive role to a faster, more transitional offense, which could mean some pretty big things in the shorthanded department. There is still the question mark to who will be backing up Cristobel Huet, but it does appear that Corey Crawford does have the lead in that race, but there is still plenty of time left.
Well, the salary cap situation is an interesting one for the Blackhawks. With all 30 players listed above, the Blackhawks have a cap hit of $64.1 million. Hossa's $5.2 million will be discounted by about 19 games, give or take the extent of his injury. Burish is out for about 74 games, which is the gist of his $713,000 cap hit. Then you have to take into account five more cuts to the line-up. Oh yes, don't forget the one buyout counting against the cap, which is Curtis Brown's deal, worth $456,000 against. I have a feeling that the Blackhawks are still going to be in trouble, when all the math is said and done.
I'm still finding it hard to actually gauge where the Blackhawks are going to be this season, with the injuries and cap concerns. Nevertheless, the team still has a good chunk of their core and it's a pretty good core of players. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and Cristobel Huet should all be good enough to keep the team afloat, while they wait for Marian Hossa to spark up the offense that extra little bit more. I really wish they'd answer some more of my questions a little bit sooner.
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