| 02 August 2010
Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune has reported that the Blackhawks will walk away from Antti Niemi's arbitration decision and sign Marty Turco. Turco's deal is for one year, but the terms have not been disclosed yet. Niemi is now an unrestricted free agent.
Niemi was a goalie that fit well into the Hawks system. He had the ability to go long stretches without seeing any shots and then "turning it on" and making a few big, flashy saves in rapid succession. Unfortunately, the Blackhawks brass decided that they would rather round out the defensive corps with some better talent to play in front of Turco.
I personally felt that Niemi was overrated due to the defense in front of him. His even strength save percentage was below replacement level (Replacement level = the level of play of a guy you could pick up on waivers or a marginal NHLer). The cap hit was simply too high to give a guy who hasn't even played half of a season in the NHL yet and would command another raise next offseason. There isn't enough of a market to warrant a sign and trade and the Hawks likely needed the cap flexibility to sign Turco.
Good luck to Nemo as he trys to find work somewhere in the NHL. It'll be very difficult because most teams are not looking for another goalie and most don't have the cap space. Say hello to our friend Nikolai in Edmonton, Antti! Honestly, Niemi's agent Bill Zito screwed the pooch on this one.
Marty Turco is a guy coming off two tough years in Dallas. He had one of the worst defenses of the past decade in front of him. It'll be interesting to see if he can play with the mental consistency that Niemi brought. His puckhandling skills should work well with the speed that the Hawks have on the back end. Controlling pucks as they leave the zone is a big key to the puck possession system.
This probably leaves the door open for Corey Crawford to be groomed for the number one job in 2011-12. Turco will either play his way to a bigger contract with a different team or not play well enough to be re-signed by the Hawks. Crawford was a casualty of his contract last season, which ended up being the deciding factor between Niemi getting the job as the backup goalie out of camp. All reports had the two goalies playing at the same level through camp last offseason.
Count me as a supporter of this move. Niemi was overvalued by Hawks fans for his ability to make the big save. This was a decision made for the long term future. Don't forget the rock solid core the Blackhawks have moving forward.
