Report: Duncan Keith to retire, and what that means for the Blackhawks’ salary cap
Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images
A cap recapture penalty awaits. While the Chicago Blackhawks on and off-ice future is being charted during the two days of the 2022 NHL Draft, news emerged on Friday regarding a central figure from the team’s dominant past that will have ramifications in the present.
According a report from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, former Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith — now with the Edmonton Oilers — will retire from the NHL after his 17 seasons in the league.
Word is Duncan Keith of the Edmonton Oilers has decided to retire. The 38-year-old has one year left on his deal at $5.54 million AAV. Heck of a career, two-time Norris Trophy winner and Conn Smythe Trophy winner.— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 8, 2022
If that’s the road Keith pursues, it’ll end one of the best hockey careers in the history of the NHL.
Keith played in 1,256 regular-season games across 17 seasons, including 1,192 during his 16 seasons with Chicago. He averaged an absurd ice time of 24:57 during that Blackhawks tenure, indicative of how important Keith was to the success of those years.
He was even more important in the postseason, appearing in 135 Stanley Cup Playoffs games with Chicago while averaging an incredible 28:00 of ice time per game. In three postseasons — 2012, 2015, and 2016 — Keith’s average ice time eclipsed 30 minutes per game. His never-ending reservoir of energy powered Chicago to three Stanley Cup championships and a massive list of individual awards, including a pair of Norris Trophies and the 2015 Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.
Keith is, at a minimum, the best defenseman in franchise history and might be the best player to ever skate for Chicago.
Keith spent the majority of his Chicago tenure playing on a 13-year contract worth $72 million or just over $5.5 million annually — an incredible value for one of the game’s all-time greats. That long-term contract comes with a cost now, though.
Duncan Keith retiring would result in a cap recapture penalty for the Chicago #Blackhawks both next season and the season after that.2022-23: $5,538,4622023-24: $1,938,456For Edmonton, Keith's cap hit comes off their books and frees up $5,538,462 in cap space next season. https://t.co/x4aGNqJRqA— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) July 8, 2022
That penalty is due to the difference between Keith’s salary (as high as $8 million for the first three seasons of it) and his cap hit and is a retroactive penalty for teams that signed these long-term contract to circumvent the salary cap.
But this penalty arrives as the Hawks are entering a rebuild when they likely won’t be flirting with the salary cap ceiling for several years. If this is part of the cost for a trio of Stanley Cups is a mild inability to weaponize salary cap space, it feels like a justified cost, doesn’t it? ...
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