5 Blackhawks with looming cap questions heading into 2018-19 NHL season

1. Artem Anisimov

There’s no question Anisimov has been really important for the Hawks, posting his best season points-wise in 2016-17 in their run to the No. 1 seed in the West in the regular season.

Anisimov took a huge step back in 2017, like most of the team did, but there’s no way you can’t discuss his cap hit and what it means for the four lines the Hawks will have in 2018. At $4.5 million yearly, that factors into the absolute thud of a chunk that Toews, Kane, Saad and Anisimov carry as just four forwards. After that is Duclair, whom we mentioned earlier.

So what do the Blackhawks do with Anisimov? Is Schmaltz the second center on the team and if you make a move with Anisimov where do you go with the third- and fourth-line pairings?

The price for Anisimov fluctuated throughout the year but sits a little high for most teams, and that’s why he’s still in Chicago. He may not be worth moving but with the team cap left at about two million before some offseason clean-up, he’s not safe either.

He felt the impact that Keith felt, having a really bad plus-minus in 2017, which doesn’t speak to all his value is at that position but it shows where things differed between the two campaigns.

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It’s obvious that Anisimov is one of the biggest questions the Blackhawks have in regard to the forward roster heading into draft season. There’s not much room. There’s a lot of hope still, with who’s carrying the team, but they’ve got some serious work to do.