from Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times,

Right now, the Hawks have roughly $70.1 million tied in just 16 players for the 2020-21 season. If the salary cap rises by $2 million again (as it did last summer), the Hawks would have $13.4 million to work with next summer, although Sportsnet recently reported a larger cap increase — perhaps in the $4 million range — could occur.

Regardless, Bowman will have his work cut out for him.

Dylan Strome will be a restricted free agent and will presumably ask for a salary approaching the $6.4 million Alex DeBrincat will annually receive on his extension. Strome alone could eat up half the Hawks’ space.

Robin Lehner and Corey Crawford — who currently tout $6 and $5 million hits, respectively — will both be unrestricted free agents, and the Hawks will almost certainly only have the room to retain one. That will be a painful choice to make.

Erik Gustafsson will also be a UFA and his asking price should well exceed what the Hawks can afford, thus making it very likely he’ll be dealt in February if the Hawks aren’t in close playoff contention.

Koekkoek, Dominik Kubalik and Drake Caggiula will be RFAs, as well. Even if they aren’t retained, the Hawks will need to sign some depth pieces simply to fill out the roster.

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