Mitchell’s Rough Night, 70 For Bedard, Trade Deadline Anniversary, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

The Blackhawks suffered their second straight loss last night, and this was the first time in a while that they looked overwhelmed by a team. The Avs have been skating like the team that won a championship ten months ago over the past couple weeks, and head coach Luke Richardson has said since his introductory press conference that their overall speed and skill is a model the Blackhawks would like to emulate. They got an up-close and personal look at it last night — without Cale Makar or Gabriel Landeskog. And it looked about the same as it did on the season’s opening night.

  • A few injury updates for the Blackhawks, which could have bearing on who should pack a suit and who might be suiting up in Washington:
  • I present those health-related notes before sharing the grades for the Blackhawks’ skaters in last night’s 5-0 loss to the Avalanche:
  • Wrapping those two notes together, I think the assumption is that Ian Mitchell is going to have to beg for ice time at this point. Two of Colorado’s goals went in off his skates last night and head coach Luke Richardson wasn’t thrilled with his performance after the game. Mitchell was tentative and got caught in between too many times last night. Which sucks because that might be a final blow to his Blackhawks’ career; Mitchell’s a restricted free agent this summer and it’s painfully apparent that a change of scenery is probably in the cards for the young defenseman. I’ve liked Mitchell’s game for a long time, but it ain’t happening right now. And with the additions of Andreas Englund, Nikita Zaitsev and Wyatt Kaiser on the blue line — and the kids who are coming possibly next year — the odds of him being in Chicago long-term don’t look great.
  • However, with that being said, if Englund is back (per the Ben Pope report above) and Kaiser gets another practice in, will the Blackhawks scratch Mitchell and Zaitsev? They should. Zaitsev has been tremendously mediocre since arriving and I honestly think he’s more likely to see a buyout this summer than a warm invite back to Chicago for the 2023-24 campaign.
  • Meanwhile, I kept seeing tweets from Sharks and Oilers folks about “challenging again” and “no goal” again… and Corey made it clear that I wasn’t seeing things early in the third period. There were four goals overturned in one game last night!
  • That wild game went into overtime, which helps the Blackhawks a little. It would have been nice if Edmonton had allowed the Sharks to get the dub, but we’ll take the one point gap. Now if Columbus could sneak up on a couple teams here in the final few weeks that would be nice.
  • Why was the Blackhawks’ loss last night significant? Why do we keep worrying about the No. 1 pick? I mean…
  • The NHL announced earlier this morning that the league has agreed to a ten-year deal with Fanatics to make the in-game jerseys. This is the first deal for Fanatics to have their branding on jerseys worn in-game by a major league. We’ll see how it goes. At least it sounds like there won’t be major aesthetic changes for a few years.
  • One year ago today — March 21, 2022 — was the NHL’s trade deadline. The Blackhawks weren’t as active as many of us hoped last year, opting to not trade the likes of Dylan Strome, Dominik Kubalik or Calvin de Haan. However, they did make two deals, sending Ryan Carpenter to Calgary for a fourth-round pick in 2024 (robbery) and moving goaltender Marc-André Fleury to Minnesota for a conditional second-round pick. That pick stayed in the second round, and was used to select Boston University center Ryan Greene. Greene has been terrific for BU this season, and his season will continue this weekend as the Terriers continue their quest to win a national championship. When can you watch Greene and the other six Blackhawks prospects playing for a shot at the Frozen Four? We’ve got you covered.
  • I love this level of access. The NCHC put a Ref Cam on the ice for the Frozen Faceoff (their conference championship game) over the weekend. Seeing the game from inside the ice is always amazing. Even from seats on the glass it’s easy for fans to take the speed of the game for granted.
  • While we were watching the Blackhawks lose in Denver last night, some of us were multitasking with the World Baseball Classic on a second screen. If you were like me, that game was worth the attention — it was awesome! And Japan’s dramatic comeback and walk-off moment means Shohei Ohtani will face Mike Trout in the WBC championship game.
  • Finally, since our focus for the Blackhawks is on prospects so much during the beginning of the rebuild, why not check in with the Cubs’ organizational depth? The boys have been drafting and signing players to restock the talent in the system for a couple years now, and it’s time to see what they can do at higher levels — including the majors. With that, the new BN Top Ten Cubs’ Prospects list dropped yesterday and it’s gold as always.
  • written by

    Tab Bamford has been writing about the Chicago Blackhawks for almost two decades. He joined Bleacher Nation as the lead Blackhawks writer in May 2022. Tab is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and is the author of two books about the Blackhawks: "100 Things Blackhawks Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die" (Triumph Books) and "Chicago Blackhawks: An Illustrated Timeline" (Reedy Press, 2021). Find him on Twitter/X/Instagram/Threads at @The1Tab

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