To build a Stanley Cup winner, a team has to have a lot of intangibles among other skills. Building a winner on a budget is the most difficult plan to set. Winning a cup with your best players on their value contracts is the biggest advantage to building the best team possible.
The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup when Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane were still on their entry-level contracts and that allowed them to ice a team that included Dave Bolland, Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, Troy Brouwer, and Dustin Byfuglien.
The Edmonton Oilers will have a challenge on their hands to build a competitive roster before the likes of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse and Jesse Puljujarvi get their big pay days.
The most effective way to build that group is to sign players to value contracts. Peter Chiarelli may have already found a formidable top-pairing duo on the cheap with Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson both at the manageable $4.167m cap hit. To put that into perspective, the Chicago Blackhawks had Brian Campbell earning $7.140m himself on the second pairing that was only made possible with Duncan Keith at a very meagre $1.9m.
Sharp (4.0m) – Toews (2.8m) – Hossa (5.2m)
Ladd (1.5m) – Bolland (3.3m) – Kane (3.7m)
Byfuglien (3.0m) – Fraser (0.7m) – Versteeg (3.0m)
Eager (0.95m) – Madden (2.7m) – Brouwer (1.0m)
Bickell (0.5m) – Burish (0.7m) – Kopecky (1.2m)
Keith (1.4m) – Seabrook (3.5m)
Campbell (7.1m) – Hjalmarsson (0.65m)
Sopel (2.3m) – Hendry (0.6m)
Boynton (1.5m)
Niemi (0.8m)
Huet (5.6m)
Looking at that Stanley Cup roster, it’s incredible the talent of the group and how cheap the players were. Brian Campbell was the only player making more than he was worth, and the prodigal son recently returned.
The team was built to succeed that season and they did just that. Imagine what they would have done had they not signed Cristobal Huet to that large contract?
Not one second after the final piece of confetti was picked up from the Stanley Cup parade, GM Stan Bowman began doing the inevitable. With Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith set to enter into their newly signed contracts, it was time to take the hacksaw to an ungodly roster.
Bowman started out by making a massive deal with the then Atlanta Thrashers sending Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and Akim Aliu in exchange for Marty Reasoner, Joey Crabb, Jeremy Morin, and two draft picks for the upcoming 2010 NHL Entry Draft (24th and 54th overall)
Colin Fraser was dealt to our Oilers for a 6th round pick. Kris Versteeg was sent to the Toronto Maple Leafs along with a prospect in exchange for Viktor Stalberg, Chris Didomenico, and Phillipe Paradis.
Andrew Ladd was dealt to the same Atlanta Thrashers for Ivan Vishnevkiy and a 2011 2nd round pick.
The Blackhawks would not be the same team as the year before but they managed to keep their core intact, and would make another run in 2013.
Saad (0.9m) – Toews (6.3m) – Hossa (5.2m)
Sharp (5.9m) – Handzus (2.5m) – Kane (6.3m)
Bickell (0.55m) – Kruger (0.9m) – Shaw (0.55m)
Stalberg (0.87m) – Bolland (3.3m) – Frolik (2.3m)
Carcillo (0.8m) – Smith (0.55m) – Bollig (0.55m)
Keith (5.5m) – Seabrook (5.8m)
Leddy (1.1m) – Hjalmarsson (3.5m)
Roszival (2.0m) – Oduya (3.3m)
Brookbank (1.2m)
Crawford (2.6m)
Emery (1.1m)
The Blackhawks simply found players to replace everybody outside of their core. Toews, Kane, Sharp, Hossa, Keith, Seabrook and Hjalmarsson became the identified nucleus and Bowman found players to take on the roles left vacant by Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, Troy Brouwer, John Madden, Brent Sopel and even Antti Niemi.
Andrew Shaw was a 5th round draft pick that became the spitfire replacing Troy Brouwer’s presence. 2013 2nd round draft faller Brandon Saad was able to produce points on a scoring line on the cheap like Andrew Ladd had previously done. Bryan Bickell stepped up to perform in the playoffs much like Dustin Byfuglien had in the 2010 run. Michael Frolik and Marcus Kruger played a strong defensive game to help offset the loss of Tomas Kopecky, Colin Fraser and John Madden. Nick Leddy stepped up to provide a presence left in a Brian Campbell shaped hole. Corey Crawford became the team’s number one goaltender on the cheap and has since developed into one of the premier goaltenders in the league.
Stan Bowman and his staff realized that they would have to continuously find replacements for certain roles, and keep their core intact. The 2013 group had to let go of Nick Leddy, Michal Handzus, Dave Bolland and Michael Frolik before replacing those players with Antoine Vermette, a returning Kris Versteeg, Brad Richards and Kimmo Timonen to win another Stanley Cup in 2015.
The club has since had to move on from Brandon Saad, Patrick Sharp, Teuvo Teravainen, Andrew Shaw, and Johnny Oduya but they have still been able to keep Toews, Kane, Hossa, (Panarin) Seabrook, Keith, Hjalmarsson and Crawford despite the budget always tightening.
WHAT THE OILERS CAN LEARN FROM THE BLACKHAWKS
- Keep your core players
- Sign valuable players to value contracts
- Drafting is extremely important and will mean the difference between maintaining competitiveness or falling back down to earth
- Be very shrewd in making deals
Check out The Oilers Rig tomorrow morning for part two, analyzing the Oilers as they prepare to balance the chequebook down the road.
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