With the season nearing an end, only 15 more wins to go, I thought I would give everyone a heads up as to what will be available at what may be the Hawks most pressing off season need; The centerman.  So make your wishlist.

These are in no particular order with this year's salary.  The position is what was listed on their player bio so some may be incorrect.  All players are listed as a center or center & winger.

RFA                                                                                                                        UFA

Tyler Kennedy  725,000                                                                       Max Talbot   1,050,000

Dustin Jeffrey   509,444                                                                       Michael Rupp   825,000

Ryan White   850,000                                                                           Craig Adams   550,000

Benn Ferriero   850,000                                                                       Mike Comrie   500,000

Artem Anisimov   821,666                                                                    Mark Letestu   500,000

Nathan Gerbe   850,000                                                                      Jason Arnotte   4,500,000

Tyler Bozak   3,725,000                                                                        Brooks Laich   2,066,667

Brad Richardson   900,000                                                                 Jeff Halpern   600,000

Trevor Lewis   803,250                                                                         Tanner Glass   625,000

Steven Stamkos   3,725,000                                                               Scott Nichol   760,000

Nick Spaling   891,667                                                                         Kyle Wellwood   650,000

Kyle Turris   2,695,833                                                                          Kris Draper   1,583,333

Brandon Sutter   1,225,000                                                                 John Madden   1,250,000

Andrew Cogliano   1,000,000                                                             Ryan Shannon   625,000

Shawn Matthias   821,667                                                                  Tim Connoly   4,500,000

Mike Santorelli   600,000                                                                    Cody McCormick   500,000

TJ Oshie   1,275,000                                                                            Todd Marchant   1,125,000

Patrik Berglund   1,246,667                                                                Tim Brent   575,000

Vladimir Sobotka   750,000                                                                 Darryl Boyce   527,500

Kevin Porter   660,000                                                                          Andrew Murray   625,000

TJ Galiardi   875,000                                                                            Brad Richards   7,800,000

Ben Maxwell   850,000                                                                        Brian Sutherby   812,500

Rob Schremp   750,750                                                                      Joel Ward   1,500,000

                                                                                                                 Marcel Goc   775,000

                                                                                                                 Vernon Fiddler   1,100,000

                                                                                                                 Eric Belanger   750,000

                                                                                                                 Marty Reasoner   1,150,000

                                                                                                                 Ryan Carter   625,000

                                                                                                                 Doug Weight   1,150,000

                                                                                                                 Zenon Konopka   600,000

To the best of my knowledge this is the complete list of free agent centers, and I figured with how important the position may be to the Hawks it would be nice to have a list close by rather than having to go to capgeek  every time someone wanted to know who was going to be available.

Well after kicking off the purge with a 3 player deal that hurt but was without question necessary, the blood began to flow in earnest late Wednesday and extended on to Thursday with the trades of Kris Versteeg & Andrew Ladd.  After Stan informed the world that no further trades would be required by the Hawks after the first Thrashers deal I think we all knew that at least one other player had to be sacrificed.  Now with the loss of Versteeg, Ladd, Sopel, Eager, and Byfuglien we have lost approximately 30% of the goals scored, assists, points, and power play goals of last year while for all intents and purpose, receiving no NHL level production from any of the players received in these deals (Reasoner being the exception).  On the whole we have cut the cap space needed (I still hold that Huet will be in Rockford for the new season), but have lost a lot of offense in the process.  Will the Hawks repeat as cup champions next year?  That is a good question.  Sure they still have their main core of players in place, but the supporting cast has been substantially diminished to say the least.  This year I had picked the Hawks to end my 39 years of suffering and they made me look like a genius.  This year however, I think they will compete for the cup as I believe this will be a learning year for many young guys to learn the system and become comfortable with the people they are playing with.  Doing this will however, lay the foundation for another cup championship in 11-12 for sure as those top prospects will have had a season to hone their craft.  The bottom line is I will not be surprised if they do not win it all again this year because I know that the foundation has been laid for many years to come!