Within a very, very short period of time, Bryan Bickell went from a Blackhawks fan favorite, to being in nearly everyone’s doghouse. He made a name for himself during the 2013 Stanley Cup run totaling 9 goals, two game winners, and 8 assists in just 23 games. However, his real claim to fame was scoring the game tying goal with 1:16 left in the third period of game six of the finals. The Hawks ended up scoring another goal shortly after, winning the Stanley Cup for the second time in three years. After this, many people ended up equating Bickell with “stepping it up when it matters,” and stuff like that. Fast forward a couple of years, Bickell finds himself playing in the AHL for the Rockford Ice Hogs, and the fans and organization begging for someone to trade for him. So, what went wrong?

Well, Bickell’s stellar playoff performance came in the last year of his contract, and he became a free agent when the season ended. The Blackhawks, like the fans, were enamored with the big man, and made it top priority to re-sign him. Ultimately, Bickell was signed to a 4 year, 16 million dollar contract. So, did the Hawks overpay based on his playoff performance, or did Bickell fail to produce as he should have? To figure out, let’s first look at his production before he signed the contract; in 2010-11 he had 37 points in 78 games, in 2011-12 he had 24 points in 71 games, and in 2012-13 he had 23 points in 48 games. After signing his big contract, he put up 15 points in 59 games during 2013-14, 28 points in 80 games during 2014-15, and only 2 points in 25 games last year. So, his production did drop a little, especially excluding last year, but he generally performed as his history would indicate he would. The result, the Hawks certainly overpaid Bickell due to one playoff performance.

Clearly Bickell was never going to live up to his $4 million per year contract, and the fans quickly turned on him. The Hawks quickly realized that they would never see that 2013 playoff Bickell, and he was probably worse than before signing this contract. I assume the money put a lot of extra pressure on him, and he just could not perform. He was also hampered by injury, and strange vertigo like symptoms. The Hawks shopped him around, but could not find any takers. With Kane and Toews monster salaries kicking in, the Hawks felt a salary cap induced squeeze. Because they could not rid themselves of Bickell’s cap hit, the Hawks had to give up key players. Last summer, this resulted in Patrick Sharp’s trade, and the inability to resign Johnny Oduya. The Sharp trade turned out to be an absolute disaster, as we obviously lost Sharpie, and Stephen Johns, the Blackhawks best prospect who was going to save our thin blue line. We got Trevor Dailey and Ryan Garbutt in return, who both finished the season on a different team. This summer, the Hawks fully committed to moving Bickell, which resulted in a major casualty. Bickell was finally shipped to Carolina, but with Teuvo Teravainen as well. Teuvo was supposed to be the guy who would one day replace Kane and Toews. The Hawks had thought incredibly highly of Teuvo, and had even turned down a trade for him a few years ago that would have resulted in Ryan Kessler wearing the Indian head. Yes, Teuvo had a slow start to his NHL career, but he was and is still a promising young player at the age of 21. What did we get in return for Bickell and Teuvo, a former first round pick? Two draft picks, a second and third round pick. So again, Bickell’s contract forced the Hawks hand, and resulted in some collateral damage. So ultimately, paying Bickell a large amount for one playoff run really hurt the Hawks, as they had $4 million dollars tied up in a player who barely produced.

Bickell’s story should be seen as a cautionary tale. Teams should not be so quick to shell out large amounts of money for a player with limited success. It had looked like the Hawks were going to fall into a similar trap with Andrew Shaw. Shaw became a restricted free agent at the end of this past season, and it appeared the Hawks were clearing cap space so they could resign him. Bickell and Teuvo were traded, and there were rumors Marcus Kruger was also on the trade block, after signing a contract extension just a few months ago. Shaw was also a fan favorite, seen as the sparkplug and heart of the Hawks. He also had just played well in the playoffs, albeit just one series. However, Shaw had a penchant for taking costly penalties, and was not a true offensive or defensive threat. But then, there were reports that he was asking for $4.5 million a year, and a 7 or 8 year contract, and he and his rights were shipped off to Montreal. He and Montreal quickly came to terms, inking a 6 year deal worth $23.4 million. So, he ends up getting $3.9 million per year. I think he is being greatly overpaid, as he is really a bottom six forward. I know a lot of fans were upset with the move, but it was one the Hawks needed to make. We have a plethora of forwards in our system who can come up and fill the bottom six role left by Shaw. Plus, this frees up more cap space, which the Hawks desperately need to fill out the blue line. This came to fruition shortly after, as the Hawks signed Brian Campbell to a one year deal. Campbell will be the 4^th defensemen the Hawks desperately needed after Oduya’s departure. So, it appears the Hawks, particularly Stan Bowman, have learned from their mistake with Bryan Bickell.