Versteeg and Barker for Frolov is a rumor that is picking up steam. UPDATED.

Is a Frolov to the Hawks trade in the works?

There is no debating that the Blackhawks are staring down the road to a five-car-pileup in the 2010 offseason, as Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and to a lesser extent, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Andrew Ladd, all reaching restricted free-agency. With the Blackhawks currently up against the cap, and $43 million dollars to be paid to only 13 current NHL players that will still be under contract for 2010-2011, a move will have to be made at some point if the Blackhawks intend on keeping their young nucleus of superstars.

The failure to properly tenure the Blackhawks' restricted free agents this past offseason greatly contributed to the Blackhawks' current predicament. The re-signings of Cam Barker and Kris Versteeg to contracts greater than market value are the two prime examples of mismanagement. That mismanagement cost General Manager Dale Tallon his job.

On Sunday, rumors of a trade, stemming from Matthew Barry of HockeyBuzz and at Hendricks Hockey surfaced. The rumored transaction would bring Alexander Frolov to Chicago. Frolov, the 27-year-old, six year veteran of the Los Angeles Kings, is a 70 point-per-year player. But the irony is who would be heading to Los Angeles. As rumor as it, Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker would be wearing Black and Purple as soon as Monday. Speculation aside, there is a nice symmetry to the idea that Barker and Versteeg, players whose contracts are as responsible for the Blackhawks mess as anyone else's, would solve the problem by being traded away.

Frolov, who is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2009-2010 season, has a cap hit of just under $3 million this season. Versteeg and Barker individually have larger cap hits than Frolov, so the savings could be enough to help the Blackhawks avoid the offseason problems they are going to face.

The move, as it is rumored, would also bring back a young defenseman in a Frolov trade. The Kings are possibly the deepest team in the NHL when it comes to blueline prospects. It seems unlikely that young defensemen Jack Johnson or Drew Doughty would be moved by the Kings, but players like top prospect Thomas Hickey, or other talents Davis Drewiske, Vyacheslav Volnov, Alec Martinez and Colten Teubert could strike the fancy of the Blackhawks front office. If this trade was to go through, Hickey or Drewiske would need to be included, as both are NHL ready players.

Frolov has been the subject of numerous rumors this year, so it should be no surprise that his name has been tossed out again. And while this is nothing more than rumor, it is worth noting, as it would make sense for the Blackhawks to strike early when addressing the salary cap issues.

UPDATE 9.21.09 10pm Central: Matthew Berry of Hockey Buzz, who originally reported the Frolov rumor as fact, has now backed off of the concept. To quote his tweet: "Souce:[sic] Frolov deal dead." This is no surprise. Berry is new on Hockey Buzz, and was obviously trying to make a name for himself. Credibility runs short over at HB, but at least they don't advertise themselves as reliable. In the end, this was Berry likely "reporting" a rumor that was thrown around on the Hockey's Future Forum, and he was called out directly by credible bloggers (interesting set of tweets there,) which I believe led to his recant. I felt that I never reported anything in this article that gave the impression that this was anything but a rumor. If you feel that is not the case, please email me.