The Blackhawks will announce the contract extensions of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith during a Thursday afternoon news conference.
The signing of all three of the Hawks' stars at the same time was first reported in the Tribune on Nov. 17.
Kane and Toews are reported to receive identical five-year, $31.5 million deals ($6.3 million per season) and Keith a 13-year contract for $72 million ($5.54 million per season).
The players were to be restricted free agents following the season and general manager Stan Bowman had been negotiating with the trio since before the 2009-10 season began. The Hawks had hoped to announce the signings prior to their recent six-game Circus Trip, but final details were still being worked out.
One of the hiccups was said to be the Hawks' lack of tagging room, which would have put them over next season's salary cap if the deals had been announced. Bowman has been manipulating the payroll all season and cleared more room under this year's cap (part of the tagging room formula) when the team waived Andrew Ebbett on Nov. 21. Since that time, the Hawks have carried just one extra player on their roster (defenseman Jordan Hendry) and that may have paved the way to have the required room to announce the deals.
The news conference is scheduled for Thursday at 2 p.m. at the United Center.
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Hi from japan, good article. i'll come back next week to see what's new.
Maybe you should publish on the whole thing more often
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That 3rd Jerseys are fantastic and so cool!
Some where right now "Dollar Bill" Wirtz is turning over in his grave.
Lifetime Deal on December 2, 2009 8:56 PM
The first time I read that Keith was getting a 13 year deal a few weeks ago, I was sure it was a typo........ now apparently it isn't. 13 years is a touch long don't you think? What am I missing? In four years will Keith be appointed equipment manager?
The 13 year deal is because of a loophole in the NHL's collective bargaining agreement. The teams front load the contract with the salaries declining sharply at the end of the contract. They then get to average out the salary over the life of the contract in order to stay under the cap for the first years of the contract. i.e. $25 mil in year one and $5 mil in year 2 averages $15 mil per year. year one gets $10 mil that doesn't count against the cap.
The first time I read that Keith was getting a 13 year deal a few weeks ago, I was sure it was a typo........ now apparently it isn't. 13 years is a touch long don't you think? What am I missing? In four years will Keith be appointed equipment manager?
Wow, hawk's fans need to enjoy the next couple of seasons.... because they will be in salary cap hell in 2-3 years
Jim, you are on crack, the new alternate jerseys are fantastic? you should have seen the # of fans that were already wearing them last night at the game.
Hope that farm system's working. Gonna need a lot of cheap role players if we're gonna re-sign Seabrook and Hjalmarsson!
Now Patrick Kane should be able to afford his cab fare.
I was hoping they we going to announce that 3rd jersey would revert back to the old one. The new one sucks!
They all deserve the big bucks!