Blackhawks on the Trade Block? U.S. and Canadian Men Ousted, Women's Gold Medal Final, and Other Blackhawks Bullets
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Blackhawks on the Trade Block? U.S. and Canadian Men Ousted, Women’s Gold Medal Final, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

Chicago Blackhawks

The Blackhawks do not have a permanent General Manager running the team. They have a coach who will likely not be the head coach again next season. They have no real aspirations of postseason hockey. They have a load of players that could and should be traded before the NHL Trade Deadline on March 21, just over a month away.

‘Tis the silliest of silly seasons.

•   Just wrapping my head around the amount of turnover this Blackhawks roster could see by the end of the day on March 21…

•   Out of this list, only Hagel seems to be the one that is the most deserving to not be traded, at least to me. Now, moving Brett Connolly seems impossible because of his contract, but if there’s a chance to trade him as part of a package, Chicago needs to do it since he has no future with the club.

•   Yesterday we learned that the Vegas Golden Knights may be exploring the possibility of reuniting with former Vezina-winning goaltender Marc-André Fleury. With starter Robin Lehner facing a possible long-term injury, Vegas is in need of a goaltender who could carry the load of a postseason run.

•   Of course a few hours later, Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon put the kibosh on those rumors…

•   Listen, Marc Bergevin was adamant that the Montréal Canadiens would not be trading P.K. Subban back in 2016 and then, ope, he traded him. I’m not saying McCrimmon is lying, but, who believes everything they hear from NHL GM’s at this time of year?

•   While names like Fleury’s have been thrown around trade rumors for months and the prospect of him, or Dylan Strome, or Dominik Kubalík being moved are fine to come to grips with (so long as the trade is worth it to Chicago), one name that many would not want to see moved is Patrick Kane. He’s a pillar of the modern-Blackhawks dynasty era and a Chicago sports icon. He also seems the be checking-in with management about the direction the new GM will want to take the Blackhawks for the rest of this season and beyond.

•   Multiple things can be true at the same time. Kane wants to play his entire career in Chicago and Kane, likely, has no interest in playing on a team that will be rebuilding for ‘X’ amount of years. Kane is the best player the Blackhawks have on their roster, and Kane would get the biggest return in a blockbuster trade for the Blackhawks.

•   If Kane really just wants to play the rest of his career in Chicago, Stanley Cup runs or not, fine. He has earned that right to make that kind of career decision. But, just know, as much as it will be sentimental to see him play his entire career with the Blackhawks, if they continue to stink out loud, he would be looked at as someone who ultimately held the team back.

•   Olympic Men’s hockey update: While you were probably sleeping, the U.S. lost to Slovakia in a shootout. With just about a minute to play in regulation, holding a 2-1 lead, the Slovakian team found the game-tying goal from Marek Hrivik.

•   The game would go scoreless through overtime and we would head to the shootout. This was the same place that Team USA lost in the 2018 tournament, also in a shootout.

•   In what many called the worst shootout effort from a U.S. team in a setting such as the Olympics, the States went 0-for-5 while the Slovakian side found the shootout winner from former Boston Bruin Peter Cehlarik.

•   0-for-10.

•   This will be the third-straight Olympic Games for the Men’s U.S. team to come away empty-handed after losing the Bronze Medal game in 2014, and having back-to-back years of being bounced in the quarterfinals. Team USA’s last Men’s Olympic Medal remains the 2010 Silver, and their last Gold Medal remains the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team.

•   The last time that the Slovakians earned an Olympic Medal was in 1992, when the nation was Czechoslovakia. The last time that Slovakia played for a Medal was in 2010, where they lost the Bronze Medal game to Finland. From the looks of it, this win (NHL players or not) means a lot to the country.

•   I hope this ends in a Medal for them. Just based off this video alone.

•   With the U.S. out, Canadians took to social media to “dunk” on the state of Hockey in the States. Well, hope they had their fun. Early this morning, Canada was shutout by Sweden in their quarterfinal matchup with the game-winning goal coming from former Blackhawk Lucas Wallmark.

•   For the first time since the 2006 Olympics, both the U.S. and Canada will not come home with a Medal in Men’s hockey.

•   Each team has at least one former Blackhawk or IceHogs player on the roster, so at least there is that guarantee that someone will be going home with a Gold Medal.

•   Speaking of Gold Medals, the U.S. and Canadian Women play tonight in the Women’s Gold Medal game!

•   Gee, I wonder if Women’s hockey belongs in the Olympics now?

•   Team USA looks to defend their 2018 Gold Medal, while Canada looks to reclaim Gold for the fifth time in Olympic history.

•   Happy Birthday to former Blackhawk Tuomo Ruutu!

•   Other NHL news from last night, Alex Ovechkin reached the 30-goal mark for the 16th time in his career. One more 30-goal season will tie Ovechkin for the all-time record for most 30-goal campaigns in an NHL career.

•   Ovechkin is also the only player to reach the 30-goal marker 16 times with one team.

•   More history last night as Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby tallied his 500th career goal!

•   If not for injuries derailing some of his best seasons, Crosby could have reached the 500-goal mark much earlier and would likely be closing-in on 600 by this time.

•   In IceHogs news, they won their third-straight game last night with a 3-2 shootout win over the Iowa Wild. Down 2-1 late in the third period, defenseman Ian Mitchell hammered-home the game-tying goal!

•   Later in the shootout, Mitchell found the winning goal on his stick.

•   Rockford holds a 20-16-4 record this season with the win. They are fourth in the Central Division based on point-percentage (.550), just behind the Milwaukee Admirals in third place (.553) with Milwaukee having played seven more games than Rockford has. And how about this? The IceHogs and Admirals face each other tonight in Milwaukee.

•   If you’re not watching what DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls are doing this season, now would be a great time to start paying closer attention to what is shaping-up to be a legitimate MVP-caliber season.

•   Love that the Bulls are back.

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

Filed to: Chicago Blackhawks
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Author: Mario Tirabassi

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