Forward Patrick Sharp will be sidelined for three to four weeks after undergoing an emergency appendectomy Monday night. "The surgery was successful and I anticipate a full recovery in approximately three to four weeks," Blackhawks doctor Michael Terry said in a club statement. Sharp will almost certainly will miss all of Chicago's training camp and likely will be out of the team's regular-season opener on Sept. 7. Sharp is one of the Blackhawks' top four forwards and had 34 goals and 71 points in 74 games last season. A 29-year-old native of Thunder Bay, Ont., Sharp recently was signed to a five-year, $29.5-million contract extension by Chicago. We're a tad concerned about his absence from training camp but don't worry too much about his production in the regular season. He'll perform.

Patrick Sharp is happy that he was able to sign a contract extension before the start of the final season of his old deal. Sharp will come with a $3.9 million cap hit in 2011-12 before his five-year/$29.5 million deal kicks in. "As players you deal with a lot of outside distractions, and clearly your own contract is one of them," said Sharp. "As much as you try to block that kind of stuff out it's a constant battle. This was certainly going to be (a distraction) from the outside but also (from) within."

Patrick Sharp's new five-year deal will come with an annual cap hit of $5.9 million. That seems reasonable, especially when you factor in how much the salary cap increased over the summer. Sharp's cap hit will rank third on the team, behind Patrick Kane's and Jonathan Toews'. It's worth noting that Sharp was already signed through the 2011-12 season, so his new contract will begin in 2012-13.

Patrick Sharp has inked a five-year extension with the Chicago Blackhawks. The financial terms of the agreement were not immediately available. Sharp has netted 25 or more goals in each of his last four seasons and he set a new career-high in 2010-11 with 71 points in 74 games. Chicago has undergone some major changes since winning the Stanley Cup in 2010, but their core of Sharp, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Brent Seabrook, and Duncan Keith are all signed through the 2014-15 season and some of them are locked up for even longer than that.

Patrick Sharp will probably start the season as the team's second line center. "The last six years I don't think I've played one position more than another," Sharp said. "Left wing, right wing, center and even defense on the power play. I'm sure if I start at center I'll play some games at wing, and if I start on the wing I'll play some games at center. It's an asset to be able to play all positions. I really don't care as long as I'm on a line that's working." Sharp will probably play alongside Marian Hossa while Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane will make up two-thirds of the first line. Andrew Brunette will play on one of the top two lines and Viktor Stalberg, Michael Frolik, or Bryan Bickell will round out the list of top-six forwards.

The Chicago Blackhawks hope to sign Patrick Sharp sooner rather than later. GM Bowman commented that while he has not signed Sharp yet, "I don't expect this thing to go to next June." In other words the Hawks have big plans to sign Sharp as soon as possible. With some payroll cleared in moving Brian Campbell, Sharp should be a Blackhawk for life.