After locking up Artemi Panarin for another two years, now comes the tricky part for general manager Stan Bowman and the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks made the two-year, $12-million extension of the forward official on Thursday, and now Bowman will be tasked with freeing up some cap space for the team going forward. Worrying about the numbers, though, isn't something the GM's concerned about at the moment - especially after having locked up a key part of the team's core.
"My suggestion would be to try to enjoy the fact that we've got a great player who is a big part of our team," Bowman said, according to Tracey Myers of CSN Chicago. "He wants to be here in Chicago, he loves playing with his teammates and he's having a lot of fun and scoring a lot of goals. That's really the thing that we're excited about. The other stuff, we'll make it work. The time to dissect that is not right now but we'll get there eventually.
"We've been doing that for months now … it's a process we're always going to be facing."
Related: Panarin values environment over money in re-signing with Blackhawks
Following the Panarin deal, the Blackhawks now find themselves with under $450,000 in cap space remaining. Heading into next season the team will have just short of $6.4 million in cap space, but will need to spend that money wisely or make moves with nine players from their current roster set to become either restricted or unrestricted free agents at season's end.
Of course, with the Blackhawks currently perched atop the Western Conference standings there are more pressing issues than next year's salary cap.
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