Move on, get over it and get to know Jack Skille, Bryan Bickell, Jake Dowell, Viktor Stalberg and, of course, veteran goalie Marty Turco.
That would be my advice to Blackhawks fans who are ready to tear their Indianhead sweaters to shreds because of the seemingly never-ending dismemberment of the team that won the franchise's first Stanley Cup in 49 years.
Everybody, it seems, wants to play the blame game for what general manager Stan Bowman had to do this summer. Truthfully, though, many things contributed to the salary-cap mess the Hawks are in and all the moves -- including the decision not to accept Antti Niemi's $2.75 million arbitration award and sign Turco to a one-year, $1.3 million deal -- Bowman had to make because of it.
''The cap is what it is,'' Bowman said Monday. ''You've got to structure your team as such that it works under the cap. ... The decision we made [regarding Niemi] was in the best interests of the franchise for the short term and the long term. You have to have the flexibility within your roster. The cap situation has been well-documented here. This was the best way for us to approach the team as we prepare to defend the Cup in October.''
But people don't want to hear that right now. They want to find a scapegoat in all of this. They want to have somebody to blame if the Hawks aren't as good as they were last season. They want somebody to blame if they don't repeat.
FAULT LINES
You can point fingers at former GM Dale Tallon for allowing the qualifying-offer snafu to take place last summer and for overpaying defenseman Brian Campbell and goalie Cristobal Huet.
You can blame San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson for signing defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson to a four-year, $14 million offer sheet. Then again, you can say Bowman was naive to shrug off offer sheets in the first place.
You can ridicule the NHL's salary cap, the collective-bargaining agreement and the fact that contracts can't be renegotiated. You can criticize Niemi and agent Bill Zito for filing for arbitration.
You can heap some blame on Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane for outperforming their entry-level contracts and receiving bonuses that count against the Hawks' salary cap.
You can argue that if the Professional Hockey Writers' Association hadn't awarded Toews the Conn Smythe Trophy and, essentially, the $1.3 million bonus he got for it, then the Hawks would have had some extra cash to retain Niemi.
You can say that had it not been for the Detroit Red Wings' success with average goaltending under Scotty Bowman, the Hawks' senior adviser, there would have been more of a need to keep Niemi, potentially a franchise goalie.
LOOKING AHEAD
It really goes on and on. But what's the point?
As painful as this might be for some fans -- especially new ones just getting to know the NHL -- the change you see was inevitable. The Hawks simply had too many good young players and couldn't afford to keep them all on board.
But Bowman has retained his best players to defend the Cup. Toews, Kane, Campbell, Hjalmarsson, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Dave Bolland, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are all back. So are role players Troy Brouwer and Tomas Kopecky.
It's about identifying the best players for your system, retaining them, then filling in the pieces around them. The Hawks' system is predicated on a mobile, puck-moving defense, speed and skill up front and decent goaltending.
And guess what? The Hawks still have that.
''The players that aren't with us anymore, you'll always have that championship together,'' Bowman said. ''We'll always walk as Stanley Cup champions.''
Color Photo: Tony Gutierrez, AP / The Hawks signed goalie Marty Turco to a one-year, $1.3 million contract.
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