Bedard Already Filling Seats, Galvas Leaving, Stalock and Murphy Honored, and Other Blackhawks Bullets
The Florida Panthers can knock the Maple Leafs out of the playoffs on their home ice tonight, which would give the Blackhawks the 19th overall pick in this year’s draft (Tampa’s pick from the Brandon Hagel trade). So we once again have a reason to cheer for the Panthers tonight. We’ll also watch to see if Edmonton bounces back from an awful performance on Monday night.
- When Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said drafting first overall in a class like 2023 — read: Connor Bedard — could change everything for the franchise, its fans and the city, he had a good idea that Bedard would be great on the ice. But I’m not sure even the most aggressive estimates would have projected the Blackhawks would sell as many tickets as they have since Monday night’s draft lottery.
- How about this crazy nugget from Mike Morreale at NHL.com: Connor Bedard won’t be the first member of his family to skate for the Blackhawks!
Connor’s great-great uncle James Bedard played 22 games over two seasons with the Black Hawks from 1949-51. A defenseman, he had no points in five games in 1949-50 and two points (one goal) in 17 games in 1950-51.
- As a reminder, the Blackhawks have a TON of cap space to play with this summer, too. Around $40 million, give or take a little for some RFAs who might re-sign (Caleb Jones, Philipp Kurashev). While the free agent class this summer isn’t ideal for signing impact players, that does give Davidson the ability to make some moves for contracts that might not fit elsewhere. And it gives him an opportunity to weaponize his eight (8) picks in the first three rounds of this year’s draft.
- Last night the Devils got absolutely blown out of their own building by the Canes. The 6-1 score might not even indicate how one-sided the game became. How bad was it?
- It appears Blackhawks defense prospect Jakub Galvas is leaving the organization. The pending RFA has signed a two-year deal with the Malmö Redhawks in Sweden, according to the team’s Twitter. The Blackhawks selected Galvas in the fifth round of the 2017 NHL Draft and he has appeared in six NHL games.
- Alex Stalock was named one of the three finalists for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy on Tuesday night. The Blackhawks’ netminder is incredibly deserving; as a member of the Chicago chapter of the PHWA, I voted for Stalock to be a finalist. Stalock is a free agent this summer and I would absolutely love for him to be back in Chicago next season, but there are four other goaltenders under contract so that path appears to be a tough one.
- The NHL also announced the 32 team nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy. For the second consecutive year, defenseman Connor Murphy is Chicago’s nominee.
- The AHL announced it has extended president and CEO Scott Howson’s contract on Tuesday.
- Finally, I know the Cubs lost again last night but I think we’re all in the mindset to celebrate a young player making an impact. And Christopher Morel brought the excitement, energy and a home run to Wrigley last night.
