Patrick Sharp has another year on his current contract with the Chicago Blackhawks (at a $3.9 million cap hit), but his stat line last season read like someone playing for a new deal: 34 goals, 37 assists and a career-best 71 points in 74 games.
Not coincidentally, he now has a new deal: 5 years with the Blackhawks, potentially keeping him in Chicago until 2017.
Via Bob McKenzie of TSN, the annual cap hit on the extension is $5.9 million.
"Patrick is a very important member of our organization and we are looking forward to him being part of a core group that will be a contender for many years to come," Blackhawks Vice President/General Manager Stan Bowman said.
"Over the last several years we have seen him develop into one of the game's elite players as well as a fixture in the community and we are proud to be able to announce this news today."
"Elite" is a bit of a mislabel; "valuable" and "versatile" are more appropriate. He's a heart-and-soul player for this team who plays in every situation and can slot in at different forward positions. He can be a top-liner or a second-liner; although one figures he'll open as the team's No. 2 center this season.
(As for fixture in the community ? well, one simply can't let one of the 50 most beautiful Chicagoans slip to another city, can they? The bunny revolt in the Windy City would make "Night of the Lepus" look like a petting zoo.)
As of now, the $5.9 million cap hit will make Sharp the third-highest paid player on the Blackhawks (in cap dollars) in 2012-13, behind Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews ($6.3 million each) and ahead of Brent Seabrook ($5.8 million). Via Cap Geek, the Blackhawks now have just over $57 million committed to the cap in 2012-13 with 17 players under contract.
You read that right: Seventeen players. Of the 17, there are 12 signed through 2014; of those 12, there are 7 signed through 2015; of those 7, there are 4 signed through 2016.
GM Stan Bowman has locked up Kane, Toews, Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa, Sharp and Steve Montador until 2015 ? Kane, Toews and Montador go UFA that summer. This is the Chicago core, and it's good enough to a win a Stanley Cup. Whether or not it does will depend on the supporting cast.
Bowman deserves a lot of credit for keeping this group together, and at a reasonable rate (ask Nashville). But the real challenge is building a winner around them ? one look at the names on the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion list and then last year's roster will remind you of that.
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