Raddysh and Dickinson Improving, Big College Performances, and Other Blackhawks Bullets
Last night’s game wasn’t great, but the Blackhawks were likely going to get run by a team that blew what should have been a win against the Blue Jackets in their previous game. Petr Mrazek didn’t have a great night, but he didn’t get much help, either. If you watched the first two games between the Blackhawks and Oilers this season you would have probably bet the over anyway… but there were a few bright spots as we head to the break.
- The Blackhawks have zero (0) practices or team-related activities until Monday, Feb. 6. So jump into the comments and let us know what you want to talk about this week!
- Last year, Taylor Raddysh appeared in 74 games between Tampa and Chicago. He scored 11 goals and added 11 assists in his first NHL campaign, a decent year. This season, the 24-year-old forward has already exceeded last year’s goal total (he has 14 now) and has 10 assists in 48 games. And he heads to the all-star break on a heater; Raddysh had 10 points in 13 games in January.
- Thus far this season, Brandon Hagel has 19 goals in 48 games for the Lightning. Yeah, he also has 22 assists for 41 point (12 goals and 14 points more than Raddysh) but when you consider Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson got Raddysh (whose cap hit is half of Hagel’s) with Boris Katchouk and two first-round picks, Raddysh has been a terrific addition.
- Last year, Jason Dickinson had 11 points in 62 games with the Canucks. The performance was underwhelming enough that Vancouver threw in a 2024 second-round pick as a sweetener to dump his salary on the Blackhawks. Well, Dickinson heads to the all-star break with 16 points in 44 games — the best pace of his career. And last night Patrick Kane — who assisted on Dickinson’s goal — talked about what he’s seen from the center over their two games together.
- Max Domi picked up his 21st assist of the season on Raddysh’s goal in the third period. That brings him into a tie in the Blackhawks’ record books with a legit legend. (Note: if you’re new to the tongue-and-cheek world of “Blackhawks legend” on social media, it originated with Bobby Orr.)
- Sam Lafferty dropped the gloves with Brett Kulak and the two went to work. It was a pretty good dance card for a game that, at the time, was close (2-1 Oilers). It appeared he got some repairs done to his upper lip and came back to the penalty box in time to rejoin the team when his major expired.
- On the prospect front, the Blackhawks’ kid at Minnesota-Duluth had a night on Saturday! Defenseman Wyatt Kaiser and forward Dominic James had four points each in the Bulldogs’ big upset win over St. Cloud State.
- Drew Commesso stopped 40 of 41 shots against in Boston University’s huge rivalry win (again) over Boston College. Ryan Greene did not register a point but won five of 11 faceoffs.
- Finally, some not ideal news for the Bulls and their fans. But, if you’ve paid attention… this was sadly predictable. We haven’t seen Lonzo in a year and it appears we won’t see him any time soon.
