Former Dallas Star Goalie Marty Turco has signed with the Chicago Blackhawks and for a lot less money than 2.75 million dollars. I think you’re going to see goalies signing for a lot less money. For example; Chicago and San Jose both walked away from resigning their higher priced goalies for a less expensive version.
The Blackhawks have decided to walk away from the arbitration award for goaltender Antti Niemi, making him an unrestricted free agent, and have signed Dallas Stars veteran Marty Turco to a one-year contract.
The Blackhawks "exhausted all options" with Niemi, general manager Stan Bowman said Monday, but given their salary-cap constraints, didn't feel they could take on the $2.75 million deal that Niemi received from an arbitrator.
"It's an amazing day for my family and me to become a Blackhawk," Turco, a three-time All-Star, said.
"My world revolves around stopping pucks and giving my teammates the best opportunity to win on a nightly basis. It's been almost a dream come true to play for an Original Six team. Before the playoffs ever started last year this was a team I looked at, knowing I'd be a free agent, as a place I wanted to go."
Terms of Turco's deal aren't yet known, but his agent, Kurt Overhardt, said it is for somewhere between $1 million-$1.5 million. That is significantly lower than what Niemi was awarded Saturday and gives the Hawks some salary-cap relief.
"(Turco's) a guy who's made a lot of money in his career," Overhardt said. "He was the highest-paid goalie at one point other than (Nikolai) Khabibulin. We kind of set the market last time around. Now the priority is winning and being with a winning organization. Our priority ... was to put him with a club where he had a chance to play a role to win the Stanley Cup." [chicagobreakingsports.com]
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