Hawks keep Hammer- but was this "rope-a-dope" by Sharks' Wilson?

The Blackhawks have matched the Sharks' offer to defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson.

While I'm glad that Hammer will be back next year, the four year, $14 million contract means that the salary cap problem is back again. People are even saying crazy things about trading Antti Niemi, or letting him walk. Personally, I don't have enough faith in Corey Crawford or Cristobel Huet to even want to think about that. Of course, the could go out and pick up somebody like Tomas Vokun on the cheap. But how cheap would he be?

I really have to wonder whether Sharks GM and former Hawk star Doug Wilson ever really intended to sign Hammer to more than an offer sheet. After all, he's put the Sharks' chief rival in the Western Conference back up against the salary cap again by signing that offer sheet. Especially given the Sharks' own cap problems, I wonder whether that might not be what he had in mind all along.

If so, a hat tip to Doug- and a discouraged shake of the head to Stan Bowman, his opposite number with the champs.