Who’s excited about three hockey-less days before the Blackhawks start their 2022-23 regular season in Denver? The Hawks are off on Sunday and fly to Denver tomorrow. So we’ll be patiently waiting for the Blackhawks to return… is that the new marketing slogan for this season? Maybe it should be.
The Blackhawks lost their preseason finale on Saturday, falling 6-0 in St. Louis. We put a bow on the six games as best we could last night.
A few of the Blackhawks’ beat writers noted on Saturday that there’s a potential problem the Blackhawks might have to consider when putting together their opening night roster. When the Blackhawks signed defenseman Filip Roos earlier this year, his team in Sweden — Skelleftea AIK — technically retained his rights.
What does that mean? If the Blackhawks decide Roos needs more seasoning in the AHL and try to send him to Rockford, Skelleftea can go all Lee Corso and say “Not so fast!” and bring him back to Sweden. Roos said Friday he would rather stay in North America and fight for a spot in the NHL even if he doesn’t get one Day One of the regular season, but the decision apparently isn’t his to make.
‘‘It’s up to them,’’ Roos said. ‘‘I’m just trying to stay focused on this and do my best here, so hopefully it goes well. If that comes up, we’ll take it from there.’’
Let’s talk about some brighter things, shall we? Like how about Kevin Korchinski‘s first goal of the season being an overtime game-winner?
Ethan Del Mastro picked up an assist for Mississauga last night. I got a text from someone in the Mississauga organization last night that simply read “Del Mastro was dominating tonight.. just did what ever he wanted out there.” You love to see it.
Notre Dame needed to score four goals in the third period to tie the Air Force 5-5 (the Air Force won 2-1 in the shootout). Ryder Rolston stayed hot with one goal and one assist while Landon Slaggert picked up an assist.
Still no signs of Aidan Thompson for Denver or Frank Nazar for Michigan. Neither played in either game for their respective schools this weekend.
Adam Fantilli scored his first career NCAA goal last night for Michigan, however.
Former Blackhawks skater and coach Darryl Sutter got a nice contract extension from the Flames on Saturday. And he deserves it. In an NHL where every GM is looking for the brightest young coaching candidates, Sutter keeps getting it done. He’s a farmer who coaches hockey in the winter, and I love him for it.
Finally, I have some wonderful news for hockey fans in the Central Division. Saturday was the last time we’ll will have to worry about the Blues changing their schedule to accommodate baseball. The Phillies waltzed into Busch Stadium in front of “baseball’s best fans” — who had no problem leaving early by the way — and swept Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina straight into retirement.