There’s little need to mince words here. If the NHL salary cap holds steady at $73 million for the 2017-18 season, as deputy commissioner Bill Daly said is possible Monday, then the Chicago Blackhawks are in big trouble. Yes, they’ll still find a way to ice a team next season, but you may not like what they’ll be required to do to achieve it.
Right now, the Blackhawks have a total cap hit of $77.52 million for next season with a full roster and a $3.558 million cap overage, per Cap Friendly.