The news of the day is that the Hawks have extended Andrew Shaw, who was due to be a restricted free agent at the end of the year, for two more years at a $2 million cap hit. It’s another bridge deal from Stan Bowman, using the complete lack of leverage a prospective RFA has to get a key player in at a very reasonable rate.

Shaw joins Kruger and Leddy on the list of those who are being asked to help out with the cap situation for a couple years before hopefully being rewarded. Shaw’s deal will expire the year after Kruger’s and Leddy’s, and in Kruger’s case should make for interesting watching as they could be competing for the same spot then depending on the development of some other prospects (namely Phillip Danault, who has said the Hawks have literally told him to be another Kruger). It would also be the same year that Brandon Saad would be a restricted free agent, but there’s utterly no chance that Stan is going to let Saad get anywhere near free agency and he will get a two or three year extension.