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Patrick Sharp remains willing to adjust to assignments; Blackhawks hope to re-sign him

Chicago Blackhawks v Toronto Maple Leafs

TORONTO, CANADA - MARCH 5: Tim Brent #37 of the Toronto Maple Leafs tries to stop Patrick Sharp #10 of the Chicago Blackhawks during game action at the Air Canada Centre March 5, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Abelimages/Getty Images)

Abelimages

In most cases, the heroes of the Chicago Blackhawks 2010 Stanley Cup run took a step back during the 2010-11 season. That’s not to say that Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith or Brent Seabrook totally flopped last season; in most cases they simply didn’t meet the lofty levels of that championship year.

One mainstay who produced an even better encore performance was versatile sniper Patrick Sharp. Despite being limited to 74 games with some minor injuries, Sharp produced the best offensive output of his career. He scored 34 goals (his second best total ever) and 71 points (a career-high) while earning his first trip to an All-Star Game. Sharp’s best moments came as a winger on a super line with Toews and Kane, but the dangerous scorer consistently proves that he’s willing to play wherever the Blackhawks ask him to. It seems he finds success in a variety of different situations, too; NHL.com points out that he went on his point per game 2010 playoff run (22 points in 22 games) while playing as a center.

Brian Hedger writes that the Blackhawks might expect him to play center (or even move around some more) in 2011-12 and Sharp seems OK with that proposition.

“I’m fine with that,” Sharp said of playing in the middle. “I think from the last six years I haven’t really played one position more than another – left wing, right wing, center and even defense on the power play. I think it’s an asset. You prepare to play all positions. I really don’t care which, as long as I’m on a line that’s working. If I can contribute on that line, then I’m happy.”

The Blackhawks must focus on another avenue to keep Sharp happy: contract negotiations. The 2011-12 campaign is the fourth and final season of a bargain deal in which Sharp’s cap hit is $3.9 million per year. GM Stan Bowman has a track record of re-signing the team’s biggest pieces before they hit free agency - he did so most recently with Seabrook - so the team will probably get something done with their sniper.

Sharp would command quite a bidding war if he manages to hit the unrestricted free agent market in 2012. He’ll be 30 next July, making him young enough to attract the kind of offers that a two-time 30+ goal scorer with his kind of flexibility could receive. Sharp played a wide variety of positions for the Blackhawks over the years and even ranks as a dangerous scoring threat on the penalty kill. (He lead the league with seven shorthanded goals in 2007-08.)

Here’s a little more insight about Sharp’s contract negotiations from NHL.com.

“I really don’t have much to say about it, to be honest with you,” said Sharp, who’s entering the final year of his current contract – which has a salary-cap hit of $3.9 million according to capgeek.com. “I’ve stated that I want to stay here. Hopefully the organization wants me to stay, and besides that I’m not really going to focus on it. I’m just going to try and be the best player I can be and be a good teammate and let those things kind of sort themselves out.”

(snip)

“You can’t have a core group of 20 guys,” Bowman said this weekend at the team’s fourth annual fan convention in the Chicago Hilton. “It just doesn’t work that way in the sport of hockey -- or in other sports, for that matter. We try to identify the guys that are instrumental in being here in the short term and the long term. We’ve done that. We’ve locked those players up and that’s kind of the nature of sports.”

Chicago has about $51 million committed to 16 players going into 2012-13, according to Cap Geek. That means that the Blackhawks would have a bit more than $13 million in cap space to lock down 4-7 roster spots (if the ceiling remains around $64.3 million). Those numbers indicate that the Blackhawks should be in fine shape to retain Sharp if they decide he is in that core group. Another strong campaign during the 2011-12 season could go a long way in answering that question.