Hawks in hot water due to Seabrook’s situation!

The NHL and NHLPA announced a signed memorandum of understanding on Monday to extend the collective bargaining agreement through the 2025-26 season and agree to Phases 3 and 4 of the Return-to-Play plan the NHLPA’s Executive Board has approved all of it late Tuesday night. 

Under the new deal, the upper limit of the salary cap will be held flat at $81.5 million and remain there for the upcoming seasons. And that will be a major blow for the Chicago Blackhawks, who will need to find a solution to a huge problem. 

A problem called Brent Seabrook… Insider Ben Pope of the Chicago Times reports Seabrook’s contract creates a salary-cap headache for the Hawks for the upcoming seasons. The 35-year-old defenseman has four years remaining on his contract with an annual average value of $6.875 million. With the salary cap remaining the same, Seabrook’s AAV will make it difficult for the Blackhawks to re-sign some key players and their roster will suffer tremendously… 

To make matters worse, Seabrook has a full no-movement clause until 2022, which means he will automatically be protected in next year’s expansion draft for the new team in Seattle, unless he agrees to waive it… 

And it does not end there : a huge portion of his deal is tied up in signing bonuses, rendering any buyout pointless, and the NHL has already made it clear that there won’t be any compliance buyouts under the proposed CBA extension.

We seriously wonder how the Hawks will be able to manage this one. They won’t be allowed to put him on long-term injury reserve as he appears on track to return to action. He is just an expensive body on the roster, one that will need to improve to show his worth, especially in this difficult situation. 

Seabrook got made more than once last season as he was a healthy scratch on a few occasion. An expensive butt seating in the press box, that’s for sure! 

According to Cap Friendly, the Hawks have over $74 million tied up in 16 players for next season, with Corey Crawford, Dominik Kubalik, Dylan Strome, and Drake Caggiula to re-sign. Seabrook’s name surfaced many times in trade speculations this past season, but the flat cap makes it nearly impossible for Chicago to find any takers now.

The Blackhawks could therefore be forced to trade out another player, maybe forward Brandon Saad, who could become a cost-cutting trade candidate to make room in the Hawks’ wallet…

Tough pill to swallow!