Today is the final day without something Blackhawks related happening in real time until at least the start of March. General manager Kyle Davidson and head coach Luke Richardson meet the media tomorrow, and the guys hit the ice on Thursday for the first practice of training camp. So get ready for hockey season, folks!
The Blackhawks started their season with a day of service on Monday. The capstone of the day was the organization surprising the Highland Park Giants with the day of their lives. Really wonderful stuff for some kids who could use a smile or two. Kudos to the organization for making this happen and keep it a secret to everyone.
The climax of the event was Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane greeting the players and offering some encouragement for their coming season. The scene stirred some nostalgia for me with those two franchise icons representing the team together as they have for so many years one more time.
Max Domi was fantastic in this piece wrapping the NHL’s player tour at The Athletic. He talked about being the locker room DJ since he was in London, so I guess we now know who will have the music set up for the pre and post game for the Hawks this year.
“I was the DJ in London and it is one of the most undercover, hardest skills in hockey. To be the locker room DJ, you have 20 critics, and every single one of them loves different stuff. And depending on what the time of the day or where we’re at in the season — if it’s a practice day, game day, morning, wherever it is — you’re going to play different stuff.”
Ben Pope at the Chicago Sun-Times dug into the Blackhawks’ path to the bottom. They’re going to be bad, but are they the worst team in the NHL? Heck, are they even the worst team in their own division with the Coyotes in the Central? We’ll see.
Since Pope brought up the concept of the Flyers “trying” to be bad, we’ll just leave this one here…
Tuesday started with three huge retirements in the NHL: Zdeno Chara, PK Subban and Keith Yandle all called it a career this morning. We reflected on their respective careers this morning.
Remember Kurtis Gabriel? The physical forward the Blackhawks acquired last December in the deal that sent defenseman Chad Krys to the Maple Leafs? Who appeared in two games for the Blackhawks and 39 for the IceHogs? He retired on Monday.
The Blues took a huge hit to their blue line. They announced Marco Scandella will be out for most of the coming season (my guess is all of it) after having surgery on his right hip joint. He averaged 18 minutes per game last year for St. Louis.
Finally, as the Cubs continue looking at their future we had some thoughts on the rotation in the coming years. And it’s exciting. Yay, prospects!
NEWSLETTER
