Welcome to the longest week of the hockey season for Blackhawks fans. After winning in San Jose on Saturday night, the Blackhawks are off until their home opener against Detroit on Friday night. That’s a lot of time with no hockey, kids. But we’re still excited for the start of the year. But…
This is supposed to be a precursor to a youth movement in Chicago, but so far the older guys are doing work. On Saturday, we watched Jack Johnson and Jarred Tinordi skate over 21 minutes effectively and Tyler Johnson continue his good start with two more assists.
All three of those guys are relative reclamation projects. The Hawks got Tinordi off waivers last week, were probably Johnson’s only — or one of very few — options to get a one-way NHL contract. And Johnson was an injured salary dump by Tampa. But they’re been good so far for the Blackhawks this season — which is precisely what you want on a rebuilding team. Come here and play well and help develop the right culture on the ice.
Tyler Johnson is tied with Jason Dickinson (who has played one game) and Sam Lafferty (because, of course) for the team lead with three points in three games.
Speaking of Dickinson and Lafferty, those two could be really nice pieces on a competitive third line for a couple years. Both have two years on their current contracts and have shown very well thus far. Again, we’re talking about a small sample size (one game for Dickinson), but both of them can skate and play with an edge.
Mark Lazerus of The Athletic wrote about Dickinson’s strong debut. Yeah, he’s a 3-point-per-game player right now (and we all know that won’t last), but his comments after the game appear to tell us he’s already more comfortable in Chicago than he was in Vancouver. And apparently thinking was the problem. Who knew?
“I think the best players in the world play the game without thinking, right?” Dickinson told the media in San Jose after the game on Saturday night. “Everything’s on instinct, so there’s definitely something to it. I know over my career that I’ve overthought too much sometimes, and that definitely is a problem for when I start playing poorly. So yeah, just going out there and playing. Simple as that.”
On the college ice, Ryder Rolston scored this pretty goal off a takeaway as Notre Dame won on Sunday. The Irish swept their weekend series.
Boston University split their weekend with Michigan. Drew Commesso got lit up on Friday and didn’t start the second game. Ryan Greene didn’t factor in the scoring on Sunday for the Terriers, either. But those two games had a playoff feel in Ann Arbor.
The Rockford IceHogs split their weekend series against Manitoba as well, losing 4-0 on Sunday. They, like the Blackhawks, are now off until their home opener — which is Saturday night. Luke Philp had a nice weekend and was named the AHL’s second star of the night for his performance in Rockford’s first game of the weekend.
Finally, the Bulls also open their season this week. And, like us Blackhawks fans, they’re excited to see what some young guys can do. Make sure you’re following our Bulls crew for the best coverage of NBA hoops in the city this season as well!
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