NEWSLETTER
Good morning, it’s a Blackhawks game day! The Blackhawks are back at the United Center for a quick one-game stop in Chicago against the Boston Bruins before heading to Minnesota for a Saturday afternoon matchup with the Wild. If you were immersed by the NFL and MLB free agency action on Monday, or maybe just spent the day soaking up spring training clips on Twitter, you might have missed some Blackhawks news, so let’s dive into it!
• The NHL has recognized Patrick Kane’s historical week with its top weekly honor:
Patrick Kane Named NHL’s First Star of the Week!https://t.co/KUotviaTj0 pic.twitter.com/bgi59iMdpe
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) March 14, 2022
• Kane started the week by scoring a career-high six points (1G, 5A) against the Anaheim Ducks. He ended it with a three-point night against Ottawa that included his 1,154th career point, moving him past Bobby Hull for second all-time on the Chicago Blackhawks’ scoring list.
• Kane’s big week sparked the question for Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times; what will Patrick Kane look like in three to five years when the Blackhawks are competitive again? Pope does a great job of comparing Patrick Kane’s career trajectory to players with similar scoring production, most of whom were productive until into and beyond their late thirties.
There are 9 historical NHL players — think the likes of Ron Francis and Mark Recchi — whose careers followed similar trajectories to Patrick Kane up to age 33.
So what can their trajectories after age 33 tell us about Kane’s future?
Story: https://t.co/jXzZEeKgq3
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 14, 2022
• Pope also ran a couple of polls on Twitter related to the story to gauge where the fans stand on whether they would like to see Kane traded now to help the rebuild or not and whether they believe he will be good on the other side of the rebuild.
And then a follow-up question that's similar but slightly different:
Will Patrick Kane, currently age 33, still be a good player* when the Blackhawks' rebuild is complete**?
(*Whether in Chicago or elsewhere. **Whether that's 3 years, 5 years, or shorter, or longer.)
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 14, 2022
• With a few hours yet remaining in the polls, they’re all but decided with the “keep him” and “yes” options, both winning in a landslide (roughly 75 percent for at the time of publishing). I’ve been pretty clear about the fact that I think that Patrick Kane will not only be in Chicago for the remainder of his career (so long as that is his wish), but he will remain a productive top-line forward well into the other side of this rebuild. The majority of Blackhawks fans seem to agree with that line of thinking.
• Connor Murphy and Tyler Johnson flew back to Chicago after their injuries in Saturday night’s first period in Ottawa. Still, they were absent from practice as both were placed in concussion protocol and will miss some time. Jake McCabe spoke on the scary scene on Saturday when Connor Murphy was drilled headfirst into the boards, leaving him lying on the ice until he was eventually stabilized and stretchered off the ice. McCabe called it “scary” and said that they’ve “seen too many stretchers this year.”
“We’ve seen too many stretchers this year, it’s a scary thing.”—Jake McCabe on Connor Murphy’s injury pic.twitter.com/VzJzAycTyd
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) March 14, 2022
• Ottawa’s Parker Kelly (who was on the delivering end of that hit on Murphy) told the media on Monday that he had reached out to Murphy to apologize. Kelly says that Murphy accepted his apology and that “we’ll leave it at that.”
Parker Kelly says he reached out to Connor Murphy to apologize. “He accepted my apology and we’ll leave it at that,” says Kelly. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) March 14, 2022
• Jake McCabe also spoke to the media about the trade deadline, as did MacKenzie Entwistle (and others), and the common theme is that they’re just blocking out the outside noise leading up to next Monday’s trade deadline. Phil Thompson put together a notebook featuring those thoughts:
4 things we learned from the Chicago Blackhawks, including Connor Murphy’s status and players blocking out the trade deadline https://t.co/Xp60FjkU3x
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) March 14, 2022
• Newly appointed Associate GM Norm Maciver took in practice with Brian Campbell on Monday morning:
Norm Maciver is here watching practice with Brian Campbell. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/q6b3KXXE8U
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 14, 2022
• With Tyler Johnson and Connor Murphy in concussion protocol, Derek King’s lines will look slightly different when the Blackhawks host the Bruins tonight. Monday’s practice featured the same top lines we saw last week, with MacKenzie Entwistle joining Borgström and Kurashev on the fourth line. Dominik Kubalík, Ryan Carpenter, and Sam Lafferty made up the third line in practice.
#Blackhawks lines at practice:
DeBrincat-Strome-Kane
Hagel-Toews-Dach
Kubalik-Carpenter-Lafferty
Borgstrom-Kurashev-Entwistle*No Tyler Johnson (concussion protocol)
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 14, 2022
• Maples Leafs’ forward Auston Matthews was suspended two games by the NHL for his cross-check on Sabres’ defenseman Rasmus Dahlin:
NEW: NHL suspends Leafs centre Auston Matthews two games for cross-check.https://t.co/G7LCqhyTee
— Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) March 14, 2022
• Although, I’m not sure what the referee was watching before Matthews delivered a retaliatory cross-check to Dahlin, who drove Matthews into the goal post twice before Matthews struck back.
Watch the ref instantly react the moment Auston Matthews cross checks Rasmus Dahlin. pic.twitter.com/hciGQfqWO2
— Leafs Land Legend (@joshbeleaf) March 14, 2022
• Lawson Crouse netted his first career hat trick for the Coyotes on Monday night:
https://twitter.com/BR_OpenIce/status/1503538995040464899?s=20&t=2mJdxhw-G2ybG5whgNUkXQ
• Old friend alert 🚨:
https://twitter.com/NHL_On_TNT/status/1503135648303169556?s=20&t=2mJdxhw-G2ybG5whgNUkXQ
• Former Blackhawks forward Vinnie Hinostroza scored three points for the Buffalo Sabres in Sunday’s Heritage Classic in Toronto:
https://twitter.com/NHL_On_TNT/status/1503146612956225543?s=20&t=2mJdxhw-G2ybG5whgNUkXQ
• The Bulls dropped a game they should have (probably needed to) won last night in Sacramento, and they’re now staring down matchups with Utah and Phoenix the rest of the week.
Enhanced Box Score: Kings 112, Bulls 103 – March 14, 2022https://t.co/aMGODge4Q3
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) March 15, 2022
• But how about Alex Caruso, man!
https://twitter.com/BN_Bulls/status/1503577824195760135?s=20&t=2mJdxhw-G2ybG5whgNUkXQ
• The Bears got in on the NFL free agency frenzy yesterday by inking Larry Ogunjobi to a three-year deal:
REPORT: Bears to Sign DT Larry Ogunjobi to a Big Three-Year Dealhttps://t.co/BYUck8C1q3 pic.twitter.com/RR441D5KNM
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) March 14, 2022
• That’s it for today!
