Antti Niemi’s future in Chicago remains in question as the clock ticks down to his scheduled arbitration hearing.
The fact that the Blackhawks and Niemi still haven’t hammered out a deal to keep the Stanley Cup-winning goalie in the Windy City likely means the two sides will meet before an arbitrator Thursday morning in a Toronto hotel conference room, where Niemi will be awarded a contract that the team can choose to accept or reject. The two sides reportedly exchanged their respective briefs and filed them to the arbitrator on Tuesday, per CBA rules.
Niemi and the Hawks can avoid arbitration by agreeing to a contract prior to the start of the hearing.
It all boils down to the $59.4 million salary cap for the 2010-11 season — a number that has led the Blackhawks to strip away several players from their Cup-winning roster.
“Most arbitrations are a disagreement in a player’s worth,” Niemi’s agent, Bill Zito, told ESPNChicago.com. “In this case, it’s about managing the cap.”
If the Hawks accept the terms of the arbitrator’s decision and sign Niemi, they will need to go searching for more salary cap relief. Niemi’s reward will likely exceed the $800,000 he reportedly made last season and the Blackhawks are already $403,256 over the salary cap, according to capgeek.com.
Should the Hawks reject the arbitrator’s decision and opt not to sign Niemi, the 26-year-old Finnish goalie would immediately become an unrestricted free agent.
Niemi would join a list of UFA goalies that already includes veterans Marty Turco and Jose Theodore, but it’s possible that those two have been in a holding pattern as NHL general managers looking for goalie help wait to find out if Niemi will become available.
Another option for the Blackhawks is to sign Niemi and then look to trade him. That would give them the choice of signing a goalie such as Turco or Theodore for less money than Niemi was awarded, or perhaps going with a tandem of Cristobal Huet and Corey Crawford, a prospect who has played four AHL seasons and a handful of NHL games.
The arbitrator is one of eight members of the National Academy of Arbitrators that was jointly appointed by the NHL and the NHLPA. According to the CBA, he or she must issue a decision within 48 hours of the close of the hearing. The Hawks will then have 48 hours to decide to accept the terms or let Niemi walk into unrestricted free agency.
The hearing will include both sides providing evidence to the arbitrator to help determine Niemi’s worth. The evidence can include Niemi’s overall performance, including stats, contributions, length of service with the club, special qualities such as leadership and comparable compensation with other players.
Niemi helped the Hawks win their first Cup since 1961 by going 16-6 with a .910 save percentage, 2.63 goals-against average and two shutouts during the 2010 playoffs. He went 26-7-4 with a .912 save percentage, 2.25 GAA and seven shutouts in 39 regular-season appearances.
Prior to the 2009-10 season, Niemi had played in only three NHL games. He was signed by the Blackhawks as an unrestricted free agent on May 5, 2008, after playing three professional seasons in Finland. Niemi went 18-14-3 for Rockford of the American Hockey League in 2008-09.
Of note also is that former Blackhawk and now current Atlanta wing Andrew Ladd is also scheduled for his salary arbitration Thursday.
Ladd’s move to the Thrashers resulted from the Hawks’ salary cap challenges when he was shipped to Atlanta on July 1 for prospect Ivan Vishnevskiy and a second-round draft pick in 2011. Kris Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and Colin Fraser also have been dealt away in trades.
