Posted by TimS on Sat, 07/31/2010 - 00:58

Barring a stunning decision by the arbitrator today of an award of less than $3 million for Antti Niemi, it appears as if Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman will be turning to Plan B, or even Plan C, for a No. 1 goalie. The Hawks do not have enough money available under the NHL's $59.4 million salary cap to fit in salary of more than $3 million for Niemi. It would be a shock if Niemi didn't get at least $3 million, and it's likely to be more. One Hawks player even told me on Friday night at the convention he believed Niemi is gone. So what will Bowman do if the Hawks can't keep Niemi? Sign Marty Turco as a free agent? Probably worth a shot. Sign Jose Theodore? No thanks. Hand the No. 1 job to Corey Crawford? Pretty risky. Trade Niemi's rights for a less expensive goaltender? Those fans suggesting the Hawks should offer Niemi to Montreal for Carey Price must remember Price made $2.2 million last season and it looking for a hefty raise as a restricted free agent, much like Niemi. We'll know in a few more days. The Niemi arbitration decision comes down Saturday, but the Hawks can take 48 hours to decide whether to match it, walk away from it or deal the goalie. Niemi wasn’t at the start of the convention on Friday, but neither were fellow Europeans Marian Hossa, Tomas Kopecky and Cristobal Huet.