Hawks reach agreement with Michalek

The Chicago Blackhawks and Milan Michalek have ended their contract standoff. The team announced this evening that Michalek has signed a one year extension value at 2.5 million dollars. This move solidifies the teams forward group, and keeps a valuable player in the fold. "We are very pleased to have reached a deal with Milan. Both sides understand that negotiations are part of the business, and there are no hard feelings about the way they took place. Obviously we would have preferred a quicker resolution, however getting a deal done will ensure Milan will be at camp and we are very happy to have him in the fold" said GM Todd Semonick. The deal rounds out the group up front nicely, and the team now has no glaring holes on the pro roster. It is believed the team would still like to add another top-3 defenceman to the mix on the back end, however Semonick has indicated he is comfortable starting the season with the group currently in place. If no move is made before the season expect the team to be active as the trade deadline approaches. As it stands the Hawks should look as follows for next season:

Havlat-Staal-Iginla

Morrow-Richards-Carter

Bourque-Dubinsky-Recchi

Michalek-Downie-Stewart

Moreau-Macarthur-Stafford

Keith-Bouwmeester

Edler-Coburn

Hjalmarsson-Johnson

Grossman-Girardi

Luongo

Sanford

The team also has several others on the cusp of making the team who could battle hard for spots in camp, these include Colin Fraser, PA Parenteau, Logan Couture, and Cal O'reilly up front, and Victor Hedman, Jason Garrison, and Ben Lovejoy on the back end. Mike Murphy and Alexander Salak are also expected to push Curtis Sanford for the backup goaltender spot.

On top of these players the teams top few prospects are also on the cusp of breaking the roster, with Jordan Eberle, Jordan Schroeder and Kevin Shattenkirk  very close to being NHL ready. Other dark-horse players in camp include Matt Beleskey, Matt Martin, Spencer Machacek, and Arturs Kulda.