March 14--Joel Quenneville has often said as coach of the Blackhawks, he is perpetually operating in "win now" mode. If he does any long-term prognosticating, it revolves around what his time may look like for the playoffs.
As for other issues, like the salary cap, he lets the front office worry about that.
So it may not come as a surprise that Quenneville may not know the bonus structure in rookie winger Artemi Panarin's contract, but it's a situation that could affect the cap next season in a significant way.
"It'd be the first time I've heard of it," Quenneville said.
Panarin is on track to earn $850,000 in "Schedule A" bonuses, which include bonuses for reaching 20 goals, 35 assists and 60 points -- all of which Panarin has surpassed, per generalfanager.com
Where Panarin may hit the Hawks' cap the hardest is if he achieves the "Schedule B" bonuses, which are worth $1.725 million. Panarin can reach that if he finishes in the top 10 -- among forwards -- in the NHL in goals, assists, overall points or points per game.
Among forwards, Panarin was tied for 10th in overall points entering Monday. He was 20th in goals (25), 17th in assists (37), 14th in points per game (0.93). Most of the potential $2.525 million Panarin can earn in bonuses would count against the Hawks' cap for next season.
Over the last few weeks of the season, it bears watching just where Panarin may finish in the points race because it could affect what sort of moves the Hawks can make in the offseason.
But Quenneville isn't going to let the potential cap hit next season affect how he deploys Panarin the rest of this season -- he is still trying to win games.
"It's a situation that as a coach we're trying to win hockey games and we try to put guys in the best spots to have success." Quenneville said. "He's really helped us along the way here and has been effective and consistent all year long, so we want to see players do the best they can and we're not going to get in the way of success."
