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Toews and Kane ‘will be here forever,’ says Chicago GM

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There’s been speculation the Chicago Blackhawks might have issues keeping Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane when they become unrestricted free agents in 2016.

To that, ‘Hawks GM Stan Bowman has a bold response.

“Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane will be here forever,” Bowman told the ‘Hawks website. “I can’t predict what the salary cap will be in the near future, but I can tell you that Jonathan and Patrick will be on this team.”

The issue with 2016 is this:

Chicago already has $41 million committed to just seven players (Patrik Sharp, Marian Hossa, Bryan Bickell, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Corey Crawford) and, in addition to Kane and Toews, will have to deal with RFAs Marcus Kruger, Nick Leddy and Calder Trophy nominee Brandon Saad, all of whom are up at the same time.

There’s also the issue of Bowman’s post-Cup spending spree.

Eyebrows were raised when Chicago guaranteed Crawford $36 million (and extended him through his 35th birthday). While he silenced critics during the recent Stanley Cup run, Crawford has never appeared in more than 57 regular season games and spent last year in a timeshare with Ray Emery, who had 17 wins to Crawford’s 19.

(It’s also not like Chicago’s goaltending cupboard is bare -- they used a second-round pick in 2010 to select WHL Everett’s Kent Simpson and signed Finnish league star Antti Raanta this summer.)

The Bickell deal (four years, $16 million) was another eyebrow-raiser, even though the power forward was in line for a raise on the $541,667 he made annually on his last deal. The 27-year-old, who averages 34 points a season and 12:39 TOI per game, cashed in on a successful playoff run and a relatively weak free agent market.

But whatever the case with Chicago’s current financial landscape, Bowman remains confident it’ll have no bearing on keeping his two prized players in town.

“Those two players put the Blackhawks back on the map, they’re up in a couple years, and whatever the numbers are, we’ll figure out the details,” he explained. “The notion that the money we’re spending now will affect our ability to keep Jonathan and Kane…it’s a non-issue.

“They will be here no matter what.”