As a Blackhawks fan, July 29th has been noted in my Android since we learned of the arbitration date.

As many know, an arbitrator will decide on a ruling regarding the showdown between the two parties.

Many have been waiting in hopes to see the situation being resolved beforehand, but unfortunately those hopes have been extinguished...well to a mere flicker.

Now with the arbitration 24 hours away, both sides have now seen the arguments of the opposition. Accordingly, the Blackhawks' front office has been seeking right around $2 million, while Bill Zito has been waiting for an offer in the $3 to $4 million dollar range.

While arguments will be made by both sides, in the end it will be decided by an arbitrator that isn't necessarily familiar with hockey at all.

What can be looked at is the fact that players in similar situations will be making between $1.9 million to $3.8 million.

Who, you may ask?

Pekka Rinne, $2.8 million...another Finnish net-minder had a fabulous rookie season with the Nashville Predators. It was a surprise to most as he was brought up to supplant Dan Ellis. This past season he started in 58 regular season games and then throughout the first round playoff series against the Hawks. He compiled a .911 save percentage over the entire season. Realistically, Rinne has now played in the majority of the Predators games the last two seasons.

Jaroslav Halak, $3.75 million...had a brilliant season in Montreal. While only starting in 45 games, he will take the ice this coming season as a St. Louis Blue. Much of Halak's momentum was generated in the playoffs, where at times he carried the Canadiens' single-handedly through games. He finished with a .923 save percentage. Halak will enter his first season as the clear starting goaltender.

Craig Anderson, $2.125 million...became the Colorado Avalanche season starter and performed great. He compiled 71 starts over the season, while helping lead his team to the Western Conference Quarterfinals. At the close of the season he managed to compose a .924 and .917 save percentages over the past two seasons.

Jonathan Quick, $1.9 million...is a member and future of the Los Angeles Kings. While struggling a bit during the playoffs, he still provided many reasons that the Kings have a bright future. Being only 24, he has been referenced as the next goaltender in position to represent Team USA.

All goaltenders are very comparable, if not a few being tad bit better statistically. Niemi finished .912 save percentage over 39 regular season games, while posting a .910 save percentage in the playoffs. He has now played in 64 games as a Hawk.

Niemi clearly doesn't have the games under his belt, but does have a Stanley Cup to prove he can handle pressure. The fact could be argued that three out of the four goaltenders listed would've been capable of being part of the Blackhawks' playoff run.

What can be established is while the likes of each of the mentioned net-minders, they didn't have the depth surrounding them like Niemi did. How would have the season went if Halak or Rinne played for the Hawks?

Fairly argued, the arbitrator should lean slightly above the Blackhawks ideal salary of $2 million.

If a projection had to be made I would comfortably assume Niemi being awarded a decision somewhere between $2.6-$2.8 million for the upcoming season. A figure that the Hawks have been preparing for by offering and signing prospects in a cap friendly manner.

Tomorrow will be interesting, and Hawks fans shouldn't be nervous at the fact that this will make or break a season.

It won't.

Just ask Detroit how hard it is to find a goalie to be successful.

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Thanks to a flurry of fantastic under the radar moves over the past couple weeks, the Blackhawks might now be able to afford having Antti Niemi back on their roster for the 2010-11 season.

Because of a handful of two-way contracts added by GM Stan Bowman, it is now possible that the Blackhawks could begin the season with a 20-man roster and offer Niemi roughly $3.5M, which is closer to the range Niemi and his agent are likely looking at for at least a one-year deal to keep the Stanley Cup winning netminder in the Indianhead sweater.

Is a 20-man roster a good idea? Not always.

Is it possible? Absolutely.

And because of these contracts with limited exposure, the Hawks could realistically bring the minimum number of players north and make it work.

Here’s how.

First off, there will be casualties. The biggest name to be left in Rockford would be Corey Crawford, the one-time top prospect who would be this year’s salary cap-caused demotion. Because his cap number is $250k more than Hannu Toivonen, Crawford might have to take another year with the IceHogs because of his salary.

The other big casualty would be the 21st man on the roster. But, again, it’s possible for the Hawks to keep only 20 on the roster because of the salaries Bowman has handed out in the last month. If a player on the third or fourth line wasn’t getting it done, the Hawks would only be able to replace that player with comparable salary if they opted to demote said struggling forward.

For example, if Jake Dowell has a terrible October and the Hawks decide to go in a different direction, the most they could add as a replacement cap number would be equal to Dowell’s $525K figure. Which is what makes all of these minimal contracts to important. In the last few weeks, the Hawks have signed Hugh Jessiman, Jack Skille, Evan Brophey, Nathan Davis, Igor Makarov, John Scott, and added Jeff Taffe via trade. What’s important about all of these deals is that they all have similar cap numbers, with the highest of the group being Skille’s $600K.

Now consider this group of players. Jessiman was the 12th overall pick in 2003. Skille was the seventh overall pick in 2005. Makarov was the 33rd overall pick in 2006. Taffe was a first round pick in 2000. Brophey was a third round pick and Davis was a fourth round selection in 2005. All of these players, at some point in their lives, were considered top talent.

In the case of Makarov, there were questions about his willingness to play in North America. In the case of Skille, his cap number kept him in Rockford. Jessiman and Taffe haven’t performed to a level worthy of their draft slot, and Brophey and Davis have never seen the NHL.

We have established that there is talent, and a similar cap number. The other key to these players is the length of their deals; all of them except Scott has a one-year deal. So if Skille doesn’t make the team, the Hawks can put him through waivers and send him to Rockford with minimal exposure long-term (like they undoubtedly will with Cristobal Huet). For the others, they can float back and forth from Rockford to Chicago on a regular basis and, because of their salaries, can replace each other regularly without a substantial impact on the Hawks’ cap situation.

What is also important to remember is that the 2009-10 Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks had a group of unknowns on their roster as well. Last year at the end of July, Troy Brouwer was a 24-year-old forward with 27 career points in the NHL. Tomas Kopecky was a 27-year-old forward with 32 career points in the NHL. In fact, Dustin Byfuglien was a 24-year-old forward with only 75 career points. Those three players, who had 134 career points entering last season, combined to score 95 last season.

To think these players, along with Dowell, Bryan Bickell, and Viktor Stalberg can fill out the third and fourth lines for the Hawks is certainly a gamble, but the Blackhawks and coach Joel Quenneville now have a resume that includes winning a championship with an underwhelming group of players.

Which brings us back to keeping Niemi. If the Blackhawks are comfortable with the potential of being limited in any way on their bench (though they were able to handle the same issue by moving players like Dowell and Bickell back and forth from Rockford within hours of a game), they could possibly offer Niemi $3.5M for next season.

Here would be your potential Blackhawks roster for Opening Night:

Forwards

Patrick Kane-Jonathan Toews-Troy Brouwer, Marian Hossa-Patrick Sharp-Viktor Stalberg, Bryan Bickell-Dave Bolland-Tomas Kopecky, Jack Skille-Jake Dowell-Hugh Jessiman.

Defensemen

Duncan Keith-Brent Seabrook Brian Campbell-Niklas Hjalmarsson Shawn Lalonde-Jordan Hendry.

Goalies

Antti Niemi, Hannu Toivonen.

The assumptions on this roster are that Hendry returns for the same cap number last year ($625K) and that Niemi would receive an even $3.5M for next year. This roster would be very tight financially, with under $10,000 in cap flexibility for the season. However, it fits under the cap and 14 of the 20 players would have played for the Blackhawks in the postseason last year.

If Makarov, who has a one-way contract, makes the team on the fourth line over Jessiman or another player with a $500K cap number, the difference would be $52,500 on Niemi’s salary. Also, if the assumption is that Scott, who signed a two-year deal, is both the 13th forward and seventh defenseman, is there going to be a significant loss by sending him to Rockford and saving the cap space? Scott has three points in 71 career games.

Questions will undoubtedly come from the youngsters replacing familiar faces for the Hawks in key situations. However, here are some considerations that must be made looking forward for Hawks fans: Seven of the Top 10 penalty killers (based on avg. ice time short-handed per game) will be back next year. Brent Sopel, John Madden and Colin Fraser are the three that will be gone, but that’s also with Bolland playing fewer minutes because of his back injury earlier in the season.

There will be players expected to play a more significant role this season, including Hjalmarsson. Similarly, of the 12 primary power play skaters from the playoffs this spring, only two—Dustin Byfuglien and Kris Versteeg—will be gone next year. It doesn’t matter if the Hawks bring Niemi back for $1M or $3.5M next year, or if there are 20 or 21 on the roster, there will be supporting players that will be asked to step up to replace key departures like Byfuglien, Versteeg, Madden, and Andrew Ladd on the forward lines and Sopel on the blue line.

What is important is that Bowman has successfully added big bodies with a lot of talent for bargain-basement prices through free agency in July that give the organization options.

And it is those options that must be available for this team to be able to keep Niemi next year.

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According to sources in Minnesota, the Blackhawks will soon announce that they have agreed to an entry-level deal with defenseman Nick Leddy.

Leddy was one of the most impressive players at the prospect camp earlier this summer, and will reportedly begin the year in Rockford, leaving the University of Minnesota.

A source indicated that Minnesota coach Don Lucia told an alumni function on Tuesday that Leddy would leave the Gophers to go pro with the Hawks.

Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune is reporting the deal is for three years and $2.7M.

Leddy, the 16th overall selection in the 2009 Draft, was acquired with Kim Johnsson for Cam Barker early last year. He is rated as the No. 1 prospect in the Blackhawks' organization by CommittedIndians. He missed a good part of his freshman season at Minnesota after breaking his jaw on Oct. 30, but looked exceptional while skating with Shawn Lalonde at the prospect camp in Chicago.

For more great coverage of the Chicago Blackhawks, check out CommittedIndians.com!

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Although Blake Wheeler's arbitration hearing today will set the standard for arbitration in the NHL, most NHL GMs probably have July 29 circled on their calenders. This is because that is the day of Antti Niemi's arbitration hearing.

During the regular season Niemi played 39 games with a save percentage of .912 and a GAA of 2.25 with seven shutouts. He had a record of 26-7-4. Pretty good, but not brilliant as he played in less than half of Chicago's regular season games, though the record was phenomenal.

The story gets really good in the playoffs. In the 22 games he played he had a 16-6 record with a save percentage of .91 and a GAA of 2.63 with two shutouts. Although these numbers seem pedestrian, remember the 22 games were played much closer together than his regular season games. Furthermore, the teams in the playoffs are inherently better, in fact, he disposed of the Sharks, one of the best teams in the West. As such, these statistics are phenomenal.

However, this is only the first year that Niemi has played in the NHL. As such, he could be following the footsteps of Andrew Raycroft (yes I'm still bitter about that) and be a one hit wonder. In the AHL he played okay but not great, but in Finland he was phenomenal. It is hard to predict what he will be in the future.

Niemi being a goaltender would also be very difficult to compare to another goaltender around his age. The arbitration rules do not allow them to include salaries of a comparable goaltender who is a free agent and give the same salary. So it will be hard to compare, they will probably look back at what some other goaltenders got a while back and adjust the price up.

So why do NHL general managers have this date circled on their calendar? Well this could be because the Blackhawks are already $403,256 above the salary cap for next year (due to bonuses) and as such, the few million dollars needed to sign Niemi will force them to either move someone or let Niemi go.

Also, keep in mind they need another forward, at least one more defenseman, and a goaltender (if you don't include Niemi) to fill out their roster. So they need to make a deal anyway, this will just tip them over the edge.

Keep in mind also that in the summer you can go over the salary cap by 10 percent. I don't think anyone expects Niemi's arbitration award to push them over that limit but it can make it dangerously close.

This means the only player they would be able to trade is Patrick Sharp. Yes, their general manager said he will not deal Patrick Sharp, but then again he could be forced to. Suter denied shopping Phaneuf after all. The only other significant salary they can move is Bolland and it is doubtful anybody wants to pay $3.375 million per year to a player who scored 19 goals once.

As for the defensemen, they are depleted enough and as such must be untouchable. Brian Campbell is someone nobody wants simply because of his contract, but he is quite good otherwise. They just extended Duncan Keith so he's immovable. Brent Seabrook is signed to a reasonable salary and Niklas Hjalmarsson was someone they were forced to overpay for due to the Sharks offer sheet.

They also only have one goaltender but they are willing to move him for anything. However if there are no takers for Marty Turco, and there were none for Nabokov why would teams give up players to acquire Huet to that bloated contract?

It's quite amazing what Niemi's arbitration does for the other teams, in fact, I would expect general managers to still be calling Stan Bowman to see if they can get players for practically free so that he can sign Niemi to that extension.

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