Amonte

CHICAGO -- The head man of the Chicago Blackhawks says star forward Tony Amonte will not be back with the team next season.

"For all intents and purposes he's gone," Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz told the Chicago Tribune on Thursday. "We've been planning on going without him. I don't know if we'll add one player or several to replace him. We will have a better team next year than we had this year -- I know that for sure."

Wirtz also added that he thought the Dallas Stars will sign the right wing.

"We hear Dallas is looking at Tony and also Bill Guerin (the Boston right wing who also will become an unrestricted free agent July 1)," Wirtz told the newspaper. "I think the deal has been done already, but it's tampering if anything is done before July 1 so nobody is saying anything. We hear eight or nine players already have agreed to sign and he's one of them."

Amonte becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1, and Blackhawks president Bill Wirtz says his salary demands are too high.

Wirtz says the only proposal he has received from Amonte's agent asked for a deal that could pay Amonte up to $9.3 million per year. Wirtz says his offer was in the $5.5-$6 million range.

Wirtz told the Tribune on Thursday that he doesn't know yet whether the team will replace Amonte with another big name player or several players.

Amonte scored more than 30 goals in six of his seven seasons with Chicago.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.