Good Move to Sign Seabrook?

Seems like the Chicago Blackhawks haven't been able to stay out of the news lately. Luckily, this time it seems to be good news for the Blackhawks and not involving Patrick Kane.

The Blackhawks have signed defenseman Brent Seabrook to an eight-year contract worth $55 million dollars. Wow. That's a lot of money. Not only does this mean he'll be back, but now the Blackhawks have their top pair of defenseman locked up in Seabrook and Duncan Keith and have become one of the most reliable pairs since the 2005 season.

Unfortunately, this new deal for another Blackhawk means that they are all capped out, having seven Blackhawks under contract (Toews, Kane, Hossa, Anisimov, Crawford, Keith, and Seabook) This means that GM Stan Bowman might have more trouble for the future, especially when they might have to get rid of some of their younger players or even a top star to keep them under the cap.

The Blackhawks have already lost two players, with Patrick Sharp going to Dallas and Brandon Saad being traded to the Blue Jackets, so it would seem like the Blackhawks would have to do some scrambling to keep the rest of their big stars and it seems like they had to make sure Seabrook was kept under contract.

The question is: Is it really worth it to sign Seabrook, especially for that length of time? Maybe for the next couple of seasons the Blackhawks will do fine with him, but signing a 30-year-old player for that length of time? I'm not quite sure. I mean, Nicklas Lidstrom did manage to produce some very good numbers, even when he went into his 40s, but I wouldn't say Seabrook is gonna be on the same level when he turns that age. Lidstrom was the star of his team at the time, while Seabrook has to stick behind Toews and Kane for the amount of time that they are there and Seabrook might retire when they're still there. So I don't know. Yes, it's nice to get a guy under contract and to keep him around, but it remains to be seen whether or not they'll keep him when his age becomes a factor into how well he plays.

Right now, the Blackhawks are doing what they can to remain competitive in a very tight Western Conference, so signing Seabrook seems to be the logical move to keep some of their stars playing there. But wait a couple years and we'll see if the contract really was worth it for a 30-year-old or perhaps a waste of money if his numbers can't help the Blackhawks for that future.