NHL Vaccine Policy Update, Stålberg Retires, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

Ladies and Gentlemen, the weekend.

Hey, we made it through another week. After enduring what felt like a dozen severe storms rolling through the greater Chicagoland area, we are finally going to get a beautiful weekend with some sunny weather as most kids get ready to go back to school.

Hopefully everyone is out there staying safe and healthy and taking every precaution you can against the increasing COVID-19 case numbers. I hate to keep bring it up in this fashion, but I also hate that it continues to cause us problems in our everyday lives.

•   The NHL is doing what it can to avoid cases increasing and protect players, team personnel, and fans alike for the upcoming season. According to Elliotte Friedman, the league is going to be requiring vaccination for anyone that will be in close contact with team staff and players.

•   Good.

•   The league also announced the start times for all of the games for the 2021-22 season. You can find the Blackhawks full schedule with start times below…

•   As you’ll see in February, a three-week block is cut out of the schedule to fit the 2022 Winter Olympic break. But, as the league points out, nothing is finalized yet.

•   The NHL released its schedule a few weeks ago, but they released it with the caveat that they did have a “plan B” schedule put together in case their participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics didn’t come to fruition. That remains the case.

•   ESPN reported that the league is expected to make their decision on whether or not to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics by the end of this month. That too, remains the case.

•   As it currently stands, Blackhawks President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Stan Bowman is set to be the GM of Team USA Hockey for the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics. But that could be changed depending on what happens with the ongoing investigation into the Blackhawks regarding the allegations against the club and former video coach Brad Aldrich.

•   Yesterday, we found out a new development from TSN’s Rick Westhead regarding an extension that the Blackhawks have asked for from the judge overseeing the lawsuits.

•   We’ll keep up with this investigation and story as it continues.

•   Something on the ice to be excited about this season will be the likely defensive pairing of Connor Murphy and Jake McCabe, two shutdown-style defensemen that have been linked through Team USA for years and now get the chance to play together in the NHL. Story from Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.

•   We are still waiting to find out the new numbers for the new Blackhawks players including McCabe. Just, you know, waiting around…

•   In Blackhawks prospects news, it appears that 2019 draft pick Alex Vlasic will be a part of the leadership group at Boston University next season.

•   I’m excited to see where Vlasic’s development continues to go with Boston. I have high hopes for him to make it to the NHL soon with Chicago and fill a shutdown defenseman role with the club.

•   In former Blackhawks news, 2013 Stanley Cup Champion with Chicago, Viktor Stålberg announced his retirement from hockey yesterday.

•   Stålberg joined the Blackhawks in the summer of 2010 in a five-player swap with Toronto that also involved Kris Versteeg. He played three seasons with the Blackhawks from 2010 to 2013, helping the club win the 2013 Stanley Cup.

•   In his NHL career, Stålberg played in 488 games and tallied 82 goals and 168 points, including 43 goals and 90 points in 203 games with Chicago, the most with one team in his NHL career. His NHL-best season came with Chicago during the 2011-12 season where he scored 22 goals and 43 points.

•   Following the end of his NHL career in 2017, which ended with the Ottawa Senators in the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals, Stålberg played four seasons in Europe with EV Zug in the NLA, Avangard Omsk in the KHL, and HC Fribourg-Gottéron in the NLA.

•   I will always remember a night in 2015 during the AHL season, while covering the Milwaukee Admirals, where Stålberg single-handedly won the game from Milwaukee, scoring a hat-trick with the game-tying and game-winning goals in a 3-2 win…

•   That Admirals team was stacked, by the way. Prospects Kevin Fiala, Viktor Arvidsson, Colton Sissons, as well as vets like Stålberg and Rich Clune. It was a fun team to cover, until all those guys became players with the Nashville Predators, then they weren’t fun anymore.

•   That will do it for today. Enjoy your Saturday!

written by

Mario Tirabassi is a writer for Bleacher Nation. You can follow him on Twitter @Mario_Tirabassi.

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