Hawks ink Michalek

Finally the Chicago Blackhawks brought an end to one of the lingering storylines of the offseason as they signed talented winger Milan Michalek to a one year extension. Very difficult negotiations with the winger prompted many to believe the team would trade him, or that the holdout could extend into the upcoming season. These concerns were put to rest yesterday afternoon as Hawks management inked Michalek to a one year contract extension. "Milan is a big part of our team, and it was always our intention to get something done rather than explore other opportunities" Said GM Semonick.

The move gives the Hawks an even more formidable group up front, as they return 10 of the 12 forwards they iced last season and also add to the group veterans Mark Recchi and Ethan Moreau.

The projected lines at this point look something like this:

Havlat-Staal-Iginla

Morrow-Richards-Michalek

Bourque-Carter-Recchi

 Moreau-Dubinsky-Stafford

While there appears to be little room for players in the Hawks pipeline to breakthrough, there are some promising players knocking on the door that could force their way into the mix. These include Clarke Macarthur, Colin Fraser, Chris Stewart, Cal O'reilly and even top prospects Jordan Eberle and Logan Couture.

On the back end the Hawks again have a very enviable group. Here however the team did see some turnover as two of their top-6 defenceman will be playing elsewhere this season. To fill those holes the team will likely dip into their deep stable of ready prospects, and of course they also added potential franchise player Victor Hedman.

As camp opens the projected pairs are:

Bouwmeester-Keith

Regehr-Coburn

Edler-Girardi

This could change however as the Hawks have several high end youngsters on the cusp of making the team, these include the aforementioned Hedman, Jack Johnson, Niklas Grossman and Niklas Hjalmarsson. A strong showing from one of them could make a veteran like Regehr, or another youngster like Girardi expendable.