You think a veteran free agent like Marty Turco would look good wearing red and white? Don’t laugh. A big change could be coming in the Chicago Blackhawks’ net.

Barring a miraculous 11th-hour agreement, goalie Antti Niemi and the Blackhawks will experience the agony known as arbitration Thursday morning, a crazy process in which a team more or less argues their player isn’t any good, then forks over millions of dollars.

If the arbitrator gives Niemi a big award, a distinct possibility since he just backstopped a franchise to its first Stanley Cup since 1961, the cash-strapped Blackhawks could walk away from the salary or accept it and trade him or another player later.

“This is atypical,” Bill Zito, Niemi’s agent, told the Chicago Tribune. “It’s just about the cap; it’s cap management. No one ever said, ‘Antti doesn’t deserve this or he’s not good enough’ or anything like that.”

Here’s the Blackhawks’ predicament. According to capgeek.com they have $59,868,256 million committed to 17 players for next season. The salary cap is $59.4 million. The Blackhawks’ $4,157,753 “carry-over bonus penalty,” shrinks the cap or increases their salaries, however you look at it. The numbers include backup goalie Cristobal Huet’s astronomical $5.625 million figure, which is expected to be subtracted by sending him to the minors.
 
Squeezing in a $3 or $4 million award, which Niemi is reportedly seeking, would be an arduous task. The Blackhawks have already traded several key contributors from their Cup run.

The Blackhawks think a contract around $2 million would be appropriate, the Tribune reported. The 26-year-old Niemi made $800,000 last year.

Niemi, of course, deserves a raise. There’s no arguing that. He’s in an elite fraternity of netminders. But despite 16 playoffs wins, he hasn’t proven he’s a franchise goalie. While he performed splendidly at times during the postseason, the Blackhawks didn’t win the Cup because he manned the net.

The jury’s still out on the Finn. Remember, he has one full season of NHL experience. He played only 39 regular-season games.

It’s hard to imagine the Blackhawks swallowing a $4 million award. Maybe they sever ties, sign Turco or Jose Theodore cheaply and hope minor leaguer Corey Crawford can morph into Niemi 2.0.

The Chicago net could look a whole lot different next year.
 

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