NEWSLETTER
Anyone else sick of their Thanksgiving leftovers yet? Yeah, me neither. But speaking of leftovers, the Blackhawks were able to get one player off of their plate yesterday that was a leftover from the NHL roster.
• For the Chicago Blackhawks, placing Adam Gaudette on waivers was never really going to end up with him staying in the organization. On a one-year deal for just under $1M this season, Gaudette was a low-risk waiver claim for a team that could use a depth forward that can score on an inconsistent basis. For the Ottawa Senators, the first team able to pick Gaudette in the waiver order, it was an easy decision.
Adam Gaudette Claimed By Ottawa Senators Off Waivershttps://t.co/as9YqSoeIG
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) November 27, 2021
• Gaudette was supposed to be with the Blackhawks this season and add a scoring touch in the bottom-six forwards group. His health was at the best point it has been his career and he added weight to play a more physical game. Unfortunately, he could find a home in Chicago’s lineup and eventually became a casualty to the rotation of the bottom-six.
• Another player that looks like he is going to be a casualty of the bottom-six rotation is Dylan Strome. He was scratched on Friday afternoon and only took the place of Jonathan Toews in practice yesterday with Toews on a “maintenance day.” He’ll likely not be in the lineup again today against the San Jose Sharks.
Derek King on Dylan Strome being a healthy scratch yesterday: "I thought Dylan was making some strides. We need to find some chemistry with a couple players and mix in and out. … We just felt his game wasn't where it was prior to (Calgary). We'll get him back in here soon."
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) November 27, 2021
• Strome seemingly has no place in the lineup. He’s not a bottom-six forward option because he’s not much of a defensive player or a checking forward. He can’t produce much offense on his own accord and would have to play with other skilled players to unlock that potential, but those kinds of players don’t land on the fourth-line. At $3M AAV this season, the final year of his deal with the Blackhawks, trading Strome at this point nearly seems impossible. When Chicago acquired him in 2018 from the Coyotes, he was still a player with untapped potential. Now, I think we’ve seen his ceiling.
• Speaking of Toews having a “maintenance day” yesterday, the 33-year-old Captain is coming off missing an entire season and has had struggles producing at the rate that he has previously in his career. Zero goals in 20 games to begin the season is a career-long drought, not only to begin a season but overall at any point in his career. After seeing what was supposed to be his first goal of the year wiped off the board on Friday, it was probably a good day to have Toews clear his head, rest, and refocus moving forward.
Telling from his body language last night, feels like this could be as much about a physical day off as it is a mental day off. Either way, he could use it #Blackhawks https://t.co/cpbxYrRxbF
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) November 27, 2021
• It would be great if his first goal came tonight. The guy needs it. The Blackhawks need it.
• Offensively, without Toews scoring and producing at the rate we’ve come to expect from him, Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat have been pushing all the right buttons to keep Chicago afloat in most games. As we’ve talked about before, this season has become DeBrincat’s coming out party to the rest of the NHL as a superstar in the league, something Chicago fans already knew he was capable of.
Alex DeBrincat had proven himself as a gifted goal scorer, but he’s worked to become much more than that. @MarkLazerus on DeBrincat’s continuing evolution: https://t.co/J26X5g9pGZ
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) November 27, 2021
• DeBrincat has become to Kane what Artemiy Panarin was to him a few years ago. Someone who can keep up with the greatest American-born hockey player in league history.
• Speaking of Panarin, he was hit with a $5,000 fine for throwing his glove at Brad Marchand on Friday.
NY Rangers’ Artemi Panarin has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for Unsportsmanlike Conduct during yesterday’s game with the Boston Bruins.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) November 27, 2021
• In case you missed it and because I love watching this clip, here’s the incident one more time.
Artemi Panarin is not a Brad Marchand fan. pic.twitter.com/apZwFhj0jQ
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) November 26, 2021
• What we didn’t know at the time, was what prompted Panarin to throw his glove at Marchand. Following the game and the levying of the fine, Panarin revealed that Marchand started berating him about his home country of Russia and the support Panarin has shown in the past for opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Artemi Panarin says he didn't really understand what Brad Marchand was saying initially, then he heard something about Russia.
"That's why I lost my mind." #NYR
— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) November 27, 2021
Panarin said "it's not honest" for the NHL to only fine him and not Marchand.
"It’s important to think that I didn’t start it. I didn’t say good things about him, too, but I think when you touch country, it’s different. Probably all Russians would want to defend their country."
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) November 27, 2021
Beyond the pale if true. Marchand was mic'd up so should be easy to verify and fine him. pic.twitter.com/EEHNhFuGcu
— Ian McLaren (@iancmclaren) November 27, 2021
• Are we surprised? Marchand has built his reputation on being a shit-heel in the league. So much is talked about how his off the ice persona and on the ice antics are polar opposites. Can we stop with that narrative? Acting like he does on the ice and saying these types of things to someone like Panarin, who missed part of last season to attend to his family after they received threats in Russia for Panarin’s support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is reprehensible. Good thing ESPN had Marchand mic’d so we can know exactly what he said…
Asked the NHL if it would use audio from Brad Marchand's ESPN mic to determine if his insults to Artemi Panarin were worthy of supplemental discipline.
NHL says it does not obtain that audio per agreement with the PA. Only words heard by on-ice officials/broadcast can be used.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) November 28, 2021
• Oh…typical. I truly hope the audio gets released somehow so we can see, once again, the shit-heel Marchand in action.
• Adam Boqvist seems to be doing well for himself in Columbus.
Adam Boqvist had two goals and an assist for Columbus tonight. He has four goals on the season. That's as many goals as the Blackhawks defensemen have combined this season. He seems to be doing well in his third-pairing and power-play roles.
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) November 28, 2021
• I’m not sayin that he’d be able to be doing the same kind of point-production in Chicago this season, or that he would be having the same effect that Seth Jones has had for the Blackhawks this year, but he was on his way to reaching the top-tier of his potential before being traded. Good for him with the Blue Jackets.
• While Chicago isn’t getting goal-scoring from the blue-line, the Rockford IceHogs are having no issues in that department.
The IceHogs last 4 goals have all been scored by defensemen (Regula, Mitchell, Phillips, Galvas) and they were all their firsts of the season. #RFDvsCHI
— Greg Boysen (@GregBoysen) November 28, 2021
• The IceHogs ended up losing in a shootout last night, 3-2 to the rival Chicago Wolves. Collin Delia made 27/29 saves while Rockford was out-shot 29-19 in the game. They are now 5-8-1 this season.
• Staying in Chicago’s farm system, 2021 second-round pick Colton Dach tallied his eighth goal of the season for the Kelowna Rockets last night.
The Dacher will see you now
🚨 Colton Dach
🍎 @pnovak111
🍏 @jax_desouza #blackhawks | @mnwild pic.twitter.com/fgw91iP7v5— Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets) November 28, 2021
• Then younger Dach is second on his team in goals and tied for third on the Rockets in points with 14 in 16 WHL games this season.
• With eight players in COVID protocols, the NHL has postponed the next two New York Islanders games through November 30th.
NHL Postpones New York Islanders Games Through November 30thhttps://t.co/AqCnmm4tRD
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) November 27, 2021
• The Islanders now join the Ottawa Senators as NHL clubs that have had to have games postponed due to COVID, raising even more concerns around the league regarding the NHL All-Star Break and the league’s participation in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. I suggest checking out this thread from ESPN’s Emily Kaplan in full.
Here’s what I’m hearing about NHL All Star & Olympic participation (a thread)
NHL planning for ASG in Vegas, business as usual. Gary Bettman never wanted players to go to Olympics, but made a promise w/ them & intends to see it through. Plan is for charter from Vegas to Beijing
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) November 27, 2021
• Things are not looking great, too, with the new variant discovered in South Africa this week. A reminder to get your COVID vaccine and/or get your booster shot as soon as possible.
• The Montreal Canadiens front office went through some changes overnight…
Hearing that Scott Mellanby had extensive talks with Habs owner Geoff Molson at first about becoming GM, then that changed to perhaps becoming president of hockey operations. But he was told yesterday he was out of the running. So he resigned today.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) November 28, 2021
• Assistant General Manager Scott Mellanby stepped down after he was reportedly not considered for the General Manager position with the Canadiens, a position that is still at the time of this writing held by Marc Bergervin. But with Montreal’s lackluster 6-15-2 start to the season after making it to the Stanley Cup Final last summer, the writing is on the wall that Bergervin’s days are numbered.
With Geoff Molson receiving permission to talk to Jeff Gorton, I’m assuming that’s for a president of hockey job in mind if indeed it goes that way. I’m not assuming anything at this point.
Also, how long does Molson keep Marc Bergevin in a lame duck situation as GM?— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) November 28, 2021
• Former New York Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton is potentially in line for a spot in Montreal, but could the exiting Mellanby be a target for the Blackhawks in their search for a permanent General Manager?
• Maybe Brendan Lemieux didn’t get enough Thanksgiving leftovers and thought Brady Tkachuk was just a juicy Turkey leg or something?
Brady Tkachuk claims Brendan Lemieux bit him. 😳
Lemieux given a 5-minute major and is ejected for biting.#NHL #Senators pic.twitter.com/XRCjTTnfVe
— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) November 28, 2021
• I don’t know the kind of mentality that you have to be in to bite another person. Tkachuk didn’t hold back after the game, talking about the incident and Lemieux, another noted NHL shit-heel.
Brady Tkachuk here #Sens pic.twitter.com/6c2bYKB0Ma
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) November 28, 2021
• “Babies do that.” Yes, they do.
• Ending today on a good vibes note, sending all our love from Bleacher Nation Blackhawks to Troy Murray as he continues his battle against cancer.
Blackhawks radio analyst Troy Murray discussed his cancer treatment and more in a Q&A with our @Tramyers_NHL with Chicago set to host its Hockey Fights Cancer night Sunday.https://t.co/lPNll2TzuQ
— NHL.com (@NHLdotcom) November 28, 2021
• Stay strong, Troy!
• That will do it for today. Hope you all enjoy your Sunday and we will see you tonight For Blackhawks-Sharks at 6:00 p.m. CT!
