"It figures to be a much more tranquil summer for Blackhawks management, players and fans after the salary-cap carnage following their 2010 Stanley Cup championship.

General manager Stan Bowman purged 10 players from the Cup-winning roster to make ends meet, but he has a little more flexibility — and fewer big-ticket items — this time around.

"Fortunately, we're not in the crunch we were in a year ago," Bowman said. "We still have decisions to make, and there are going to be some changes. … We need to bring in a few new faces, some players will move along and some young players will come up.

"We want to make some improvements, but we don't have the mandatory moves that the salary cap dictated."

The core group is strong — and expensive.

Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp, Dave Bolland and Niklas Hjalmarsson are all signed through next season — and many of them far beyond.

Sharp, who led the Hawks in goals this season, will be an unrestricted free agent after next season and likely merits a significant raise from his NHL salary-cap hit of $3.9 million per season. Bowman has shown a propensity for locking in core players, so Sharp could sign during the regular season."