NEWSLETTER
The way that Marc-André Fleury came to Chicago from the Vegas Golden Knights was surprising and confusing many different ways. The way that Vegas basically gave Fleury away for free, and how the trade nearly made Fleury consider retiring rather than play in another city and have to move his family again made it seem like the Blackhawks would be gambling with their trade with Vegas. Luckily, it’s worked for them in the form of a 37-year-old Fleury, playing as well as you could ask him to behind this kind of Blackhawks team.
Now on game two of a three-game roadtrip, the Blackhawks and Golden Knights are set to face each other in Vegas and mark the first time that Fleury will be back facing his former club, with whom he went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018 and won the 2021 Vezina.
• For Fleury, it stands to be a night of mixed emotions.
Marc-Andre Fleury talks about the emotions of returning to Vegas to play his old team, the Golden Knights, for the first time. pic.twitter.com/MSDb7jecNk
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) January 7, 2022
• And he’ll be the starter, even if Derek King was “unsure” about playing Fleury tonight or not.
“I’m not sure if I’m going to play him.”—Derek King on whether he’ll start Marc-Andre Fleury vs. his old Vegas Golden Knights team … joking, obviously #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/rNv0z0LOJh
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) January 7, 2022
• Fleury’s former teammates are excited to see him come back too. Hopefully the mid-game “Thank You” video won’t be too distracting for Fleury in his return.
Jonathan Marchessault on Marc-Andre Fleury: I’m really looking forward to that moment after the video he’s going to get. He built this city. He built sports in this city. He’s the one who made us successful. I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it."#VegasBorn #Blackhawks
— Danny Webster (@DannyWebster21) January 7, 2022
• The Blackhawks Are looking to snap a six-game losing streak tonight, having gone 0-3-3 since December 17. They have also allowed 21 goals in their last four games since the start of 2022.
• Fleury had a slow start to the season, but after the head coaching change on November 6, had a resurgence in Chicago. But over his last three starts, Fleury is 0-1-2 with a .865 save-percentage and has allowed 12 goals.
Marc-Andre Fleury on current state of team: “It’s been hard, it’s been frustrating sometimes. Everyone expected more out of us and on the season, myself included.” #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 7, 2022
• But the current woes of the Blackhawks don’t fall squarely on the shoulders of those in net. Even with a rotation of Fleury, Lankinen, Delia, and Söderblom over the last six games. Chicago is averaging just 2.33 goals per game since December 17 (28th in the NHL), while allowing 4.67 goals per game over that same span of time.
Derek King said the biggest thing the Hawks need to clean up is the D-zone coverage.
“We’re kinda like fading, we’re not stopping in the house. We’re coming, we’re there, but then we disappear.”
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 7, 2022
• The Blackhawks find themselves with an 11-18-5 record, seventh in the Central Division, 11 points outside of the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference, with 48 games remaining this season. The glimmer of hope they had to crawl out from the bottom of the NHL and maybe get themselves into a playoff chase is pretty much flamed-out. So where do they go next?
• What is stopping the organization from starting from scratch?
What Is Stopping The Blackhawks From Blowing It All Up? https://t.co/tK8xAr7bop pic.twitter.com/kDwMkrhGFf
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 7, 2022
• Stan Bowman is gone. They are not contending. They are no longer selling-out the United Center. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane’s trade value will likely only go down from here. There probably isn’t a better time to blow it up and start anew than right now.
• The process of selling has started in Chicago with the trade of Alex Nylander for Sam Lafferty. While it makes little sense that a team devoid of offense like the Blackhawks wouldn’t have given Nylander, an offensive playmaker, one more shot in the NHL, there is a little more to it than meets the eye when it comes to the ways of interim GM Kyle Davidson. Mark Lazerus of The Athletic has more on that deal and what it signals for the Blackhawks ahead.
The Alex Nylander trade highlighted a stark philosophical difference between Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson and his predecessor, Stan Bowman.
My column on what we've learned about Davidson so far, and what I've heard from front-office sources: https://t.co/Z6vnnOKE0K
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 8, 2022
• If Davidson isn’t going to be loyal to Bowman re-treads and reclamation projects, that doesn’t bode well for the likes of Dylan Strome and Henrik Borgström if they were hoping to stay in Chicago longer than this season.
• But, speaking of re-treads, the Rockford IceHogs brought back Brandon Pirri on a PTO deal yesterday. The AHL club’s all-time leader in points, Pirri has been a free agent all season but comes back to Rockford to help their depleted roster.
Brandon Pirri Is Back With The IceHogshttps://t.co/ozNQwLpoQG
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 7, 2022
• With Pirri back, he jumped right into the lineup last night for Rockford as they took on the Chicago Wolves. It was the first game of 2022 for the IceHogs and their first since December 21. Rookie Lukas Reichel seemed to be itching to get back on the ice after being on COVID protocol just a few weeks ago.
Lukas Reichel scores his team-leading ninth goal of the season to open the scoring tonight for the #IceHogs in their first game since December 21#AHL
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) January 8, 2022
• It was a huge night for the IceHogs and for Reichel. He tallied two goals and two assists as one of six players to record a multi-point game in the 8-0 win last night.
Reichel’s 10th of the season, 2nd of the game.
He also has two assists so far tonight #IceHogs currently up 6-0 on the Wolves #AHL pic.twitter.com/5UMllZ9CYN— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) January 8, 2022
• Of course Brandon Pirri got on the scoresheet in his first game back with Rockford, registering an assist on the 7-0 goal.
D.J. Busdeker (#91 in white) gets his fourth goal on the season! Brandon Pirri (#73) and Ryan Stanton (#55) with the assists. #Blackhawks #HockeyTwitter #IceHogs pic.twitter.com/u8UxKMQQuq
— Chicago Prospects (@Chi_Prospects) January 8, 2022
• Not to be overshadowed, but in his return to the net with the IceHogs, Collin Delia registered his fifth career AHL shutout with a 30-save performance. The win also snapped the Wolves’ nine-game winning streak. You can find the full highlights from last night’s game here.
HIGHLIGHTS 🎥: Lukas Reichel nets four points (2G, 2A) and Collin Delia picks up a 30-save shutout in an 8-0 win over @Chicago_Wolves!https://t.co/3wUYbeg0Bb
— Rockford IceHogs (@goicehogs) January 8, 2022
• The IceHogs are back in action tonight, taking on the Milwaukee Admirals. Rockford sits in fourth-place on points-percentage (.520) and a 12-11-2 record.
• Reichel leads the IceHogs with ten goals and 18 points this season in 19 games. He’s in the top-ten of active AHL rookies for points and is eighth in active AHL rookies with a 0.95 points per game pace. For a Blackhawks team devoid of offensive options, if they truly believe the season is not lost, Reichel should be going to the NHL roster.
He would’ve also played for Germany at the Olympics this year too. There’s a difference between rushing a prospect to the NHL & knowing when a young player is ready for the top pro league. Not trying to be a prisoner of the moment, but this kid is ready. #Blackhawks 2/2
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) January 8, 2022
• Plus with the possibility of players like Strome, Borgström, and Kubalík being traded this season, it really only feels like a matter of time before the 2020 first-round pick is in Chicago anyway.
• Other prospect news, Michael Krutil is leaving the IceHogs to play for the Växjö lakers in the SHL for the remainder of this season.
#Blackhawks prospect Michael Krutil has signed with Växjö Lakers (SHL) for the remainder of the 2021-22 season.
Krutil, the 110th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, has only played 7 AHL games this season due to a wrist injury. https://t.co/oN0WiZMhlD
— Czech Prospects (@CZprospects) January 7, 2022
• Krutil joins fellow Blackhawks prospect Victor Stjernborg with Växjö, but Stjernborg has been injured for most of this season.
• Today, the Hockey Diversity Alliance launched a new ad campaign along with Budweiser Canada to shine light on the fight against racism in hockey. Just a warning, the ad, as it also says, contains language that could be triggering to some.
Do you stand with us against racism in hockey? Show your support and join us to make this game for us all #TapeOutHate @BudweiserCanada pic.twitter.com/naWddOBh0u
— Hockey Diversity Alliance (@TheOfficialHDA) January 8, 2022
• With current NHLers Matthew Dumba, Nazem Kadri, Wayne Simmonds, and Anthony Duclair, along with Akim Aliu, you’ll notice that none of them have any of their NHL garb around them. That is because the league wanted nothing to do with the Hockey Diversity Alliance or the campaign.
https://t.co/iqdCJBA07N pic.twitter.com/swaU6eH5xZ
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) January 8, 2022
• But I thought “Hockey is for Everyone?” This is completely predictable from the NHL, always behind the times, always late to the party, always doing the bare minimum. But even in this case, the bare minimum wasn’t achieved.
• And clearly the problem of racism in hockey is not only experienced by NHL players. It’s experienced from the professional ranks all the way to the Junior and youth levels.
Keegan Mitchell, a junior hockey player in Prince Edward Island who publicly criticized officials for their response to a racial slur aimed at his teammate, has now been indefinitely suspended by the league for violating its social media policy.https://t.co/25PrgBZXRw
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 7, 2022
• There is so much work to be done to make the sport, as great as it is, an environment for EVERYONE to thrive in.
• Speaking of, ESPN’s Kristen Shilton brings this story to light of Canadian Hockey legend Hayley Wickenheiser working to create more women-specific hockey equipment for the next generation of players.
"We create sticks and brands that have Crosby, Ovechkin, McDavid on them, but we don't do that for a female player. And I think that it's time for that."
Hayley Wickenheiser has finally designed her own stick. Why it took so long, and why it matters now:https://t.co/tD6iIgt6I8
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) January 7, 2022
• It’s incredible that in 2022, women’s hockey players are still forced to make-do playing with all equipment that is geared towards men’s players.
• It would be awesome to one day see hockey sticks and other equipment modeled after top women’s players like Wickenheiser, Kendall Coyne-Schofield, Hilary Knight, and Marie-Philip Poulin.
• I just can’t get over this story from former Bears center Olin Kreutz about being offered $15 an hour to be a team consultant.
Olin Kreutz Just Told a Story About the Bears Offering to Pay Him Only $15/Hour as a Consultanthttps://t.co/f2hA1m1X6O pic.twitter.com/H8TXpxkrg0
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) January 7, 2022
• This would seem like a crazy story, but these are the Bears, after all.
• That will do it for today. Hope you all enjoy your Saturday!
• We will see you later, way later, tonight for Blackhawks-Golden Knights at 9:00 p.m. CT.
