Slavin’s Stock Rising, Powerplay Changes? A Child is Being Born, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

With a three-day mini-break between games for the Blackhawks, it’s starting to feel like the rest of the league is pulling away from Chicago more than before. Granted, yes, the rest of the league was already pretty far away from the Blackhawks in the standings, but after getting six wins in nine games, it felt like Chicago had gained some momentum. They’ll get back at it tomorrow against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, who just blew a third period lead last night in dramatic fashion.

•   When Chicago takes the ice tomorrow, they’ll likely have a rookie making his NHL debut in the lineup as Josiah Slavin played a fourth-line role at yesterday’s practice.

•   Slavin was a seventh-round pick by the Blackhawks in the 2018 NHL Draft but quickly ascended the ladder in the prospect system. After two years in the NCAA playing at Colorado College, Slavin signed his entry-level deal with Chicago and joined the IceHogs late last season. Slavin earned his first NHL call-up with eight points in 15 games this season in the AHL.

•   If you think the last name is familiar, you’re right. Josiah is the younger brother of Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin. Both played for the Chicago Steel in the USHL and played at Colorado College before making their professional debuts.

•   Slavin will get an opportunity to make a lasting impression tomorrow night.

•   Slavin won’t be getting powerplay minutes with the Blackhawks, but at this point, any combination of players could try to make things work for an aspect of Chicago’s game that is faltering. NBC Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis took a look at how the Blackhawks went from one of the top units in the league to one of the worst.

•   One change that is likely coming before tomorrow is where Jonathan Toews plays on the powerplay. Yesterday at practice, he and interim head coach Derek King had a lengthy talk on the ice. Following practice, King said it was a discussion about line combinations and his role on the powerplay unit. Toews no longer wants to play in the “bumper” position, so a reconfiguration of the groups on the man-advantage will likely be coming today.

•   I mean, anything to try to get Toews going offensively at this point, right? He has just two powerplay assists this season and nine points in 21 games.

•   Speaking of getting going, Dylan Strome was skating with Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach in yesterday’s practice. Strome has three points in 12 games this season and hasn’t found a regular home in the lineup. We’ve pondered about a trade involving Strome and Jake DeBrusk recently. If Strome’s game can’t flourish with Dach and DeBrincat, I’m not sure what more can be done for him.

•   There’s going to be a bad taste in the mouth of the Capitals when the Blackhawks come to town tomorrow after blowing a 4-1 lead in the third period to the Panthers last night in historic fashion.

•   It was one of the biggest single-period comebacks, dominantly, by the Panthers in a long time.

•   Yesterday, Team USA announced their preliminary roster for the World Junior Championships. Four Blackhawks prospects have the preliminary roster as the U.S. looks to defend their 2021 Gold Medal been named to.

•   Hockey Canada will be announcing their roster today, but yesterday we found out that the eighth-overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft would not be joining Team Canada.

•   Clarke is the leading defenseman in points in the OHL this season but was just left off the roster entirely, according to reports. With the tournament sent to begin the day after Christmas, Clarke will have plenty of time to spend with family, I guess.

•   Speaking of Christmas, the NHL has canceled it.

•   Well, in a sense. Due to COVID concerns around the league, the NHL has informed all 32 teams that holiday parties and other public team events are canceled until further notice. This also makes it seem like participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics is headed out the door for the NHL, too.

•   Steven Stamkos was out last night for the Tampa Bay Lighting. He had good reason as he was with his wife for the birth of their second child. But it was how hockey lineup site Left Wing Lock described Stamkos’ reason for missing the game that had the hockey social media world losing their minds.

•   There are so many better ways that they could have said this. Like, “Birth of his child” or something simple.

•   Maybe Left Wing Lock was just in the holiday spirit?

•   Anyways, congratulations to Stamkos and his family.

•   Need a laugh? Here’s Jordan Binnington…

•   It would have only been made better if the Blues lost too.

•   After biting Brady Tkachuk, Brendan Lemieux was handed a five-game suspension. One game for each finger, I guess.

•   I still cannot believe he bit him.

•   Yesterday, the New Jersey Devils extended Jack Hughes, the top overall draft pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, to an eight-year max extension.

•   Kaapo Kakko and Kirby Dach, the second and third picks in that draft class, are due their next contracts. For Dach, his next deal will not be in the same ballpark as Hughes, but it’s something the Blackhawks will have to figure out soon.

•   He figures to be a fixture for the organization for many years to come, but with eight points in 21 games this season and just 41 in 103 career games so far, plus a career 34.8% faceoff-percentage, his value to the Blackhawks monetarily on his second contract will be much lower than recent third-overall picks.

•   Last night, I was introduced to a new term, “Forsberger” or rather “FOURSberger”…

•   Filip Forsberg matched the Predators’ franchise record for goals in a game, joining Rocco Grimaldi last season and Eric Nystrom in 2014.

•   Now I want a burger…or four of them.

•   That will do it for today. I hope you all enjoy your Wednesday!

written by

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

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