Actually, it’s Mlive (from Detroit) quoting a block from the Chicago Daily Herald [with my comments in brackets]:
The Hawks are under the NHL’s $56.8 million salary cap for this season [no, you’re not] but part of the reason Bowman was promoted to GM was to navigate the team through next summer when there will be serious cap issues with Keith, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Andrew Ladd, Adam Burish and Hjalmarsson to re-sign as restricted free agents. Bowman isn’t convinced the cap will go down, as many predict.
“There was some talk during the year that this upcoming cap was going to be down into the 40s, and that didn’t happen,” Bowman said. “It could go down, or it could stay the same or it could go up. So that’s going to play into how we think. [How would that work? Besides, obviously, hoping you don’t have to gut the team?]
“Going forward we know it’s going to be difficult, but it’s not only us who are facing this. If you look at some of the decisions the Red Wings had to make, they let (Mikael) Samuelsson and Hossa and (Tomas) Kopecky go and they haven’t added anybody. Not that they didn’t want those players, but they’re up against it as well. We’re going to be in that group soon.” [Except that Detroit managed the cap and Chicago didn’t; also, Detroit has these things called Cups.]
Bowman warned Hawks fans, as Tallon did, that the club can’t keep everyone and that tough and perhaps unpopular personnel decisions will need to be made.
“It’s going to be a difficult thing and something is going to have to give,” Bowman said. “If the salary cap does inch up, that will help us. If not, then we’re going to have to decide on our core players and go from there. But we’re not unique in that. We’re no different than the Penguins or Red Wings, teams that have had success.” [except that you’re supposed to have to gut the team after you win the cup, not before.]