The Blackhawks continued their latest surge to re-sign potential supporting cast players by announcing that Niklas Hjalmarsson agreed to a 5 year extension, reported to have an annual value of just $4.1 Million. This would be just a $600k raise from his previous deal that Bowman was forced to over pay for.
For all of the slimy, creepy crawlies that the Hjalmarsson contract caused in the first place, courtesy of Doug Wilson, this extension absolves just about every iota. By the end of this current deal, which is this season, Hjalmarsson ended up being a steal. He had a rough time the first couple of seasons, but rebounded last season in a "crow eating" fashion. I was a harsh critic of the money he was eating up, but he shut up all critics. The best part of this deal is that the Blackhawks could easily unload him at any time, if a youngster moves up the depth chart. Teams are always looking for affordable, experienced defensemen. One with two Stanley Cups would be even more desirable.
For all the grief that Stan Bowman has gotten about the alarming length and swolled dollars of the Crawford deal, he hit a home run on this extension. Low risk high reward, in my opinion.
