Hjalmarsson Re-Signs with Hawks – More News and Notes

Niklas Hjalmarsson is back with the Blackhawks after they decided to match the offer sheet he signed with San Jose. His signing means that there are not necessarily any top 4 defensemen left on the FA market who seem to be of much interest to San Jose.

What does that mean?

It means three things and there are three options:

1. San Jose is going to feel either forced to pressured into overpaying or signing a defensemen they don’t want to a one year contract because they are afraid their young guys are not ready yet.

2. Bring up the young guys and see how they do. That means more time for Demers, Joslin, etc to see if they can prove their worth in the NHL sooner than expected.

3. Do one of the first two and wait until 2011 when guys like Tomas Kaberle, Andrei Markov and Ed Jovankowski.

I just do not want the same situation to occur for new goalie Antero Nittymakki that occurred to him last year in Tampa. We cannot put a weak defense in front of him or there will be serious trouble to come in 2011.