Seattle Wins (Twice), More TV Sharp, Non-Bedard Draft Thoughts, and Other Blackhawks Bullets
First off, Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. I grew up watching and going to sports with my mom over the years. As I got older, I had the privilege of taking her to games in return for her and my dad taking me to games when I was a kid. Here’s hoping you’re able to let the mom(s) in your life know how special they are today.
- The Seattle Kraken were trying to keep their series alive for a Game 7 with Dallas visiting their barn on Saturday night. Six goals from five different skaters later, mission accomplished. The 6-3 final means the Kraken will play a Game 7 for the second time in as many series, and we’ll get to see one team clinch as spot in the Western Conference Final on Monday night.
- Tonight, either the Golden Knights clinch their spot in the conference final or Edmonton forces a Game 7 in their series. The late start time sucks.
- The team in Seattle we care about — the Thunderbirds — won Game 2 of the WHL championship series with a 4-2 final. Nolan Allan collected an assist on the final goal of the night (see below). Game 3 is in Seattle on Tuesday.
- With the Flyers hiring Keith Jones out of the Turner (TNT/TBS) booth to be their president of hockey operations, there’s an opening on the national crew at their network for the coming season. I’m just gonna throw it out there because he did some studio work with Jonesy at NBC: Patrick Sharp would be a great guy for them to give a more significant role.
- Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times chatted with Blackhawks amateur scouting director Mike Doneghey after the lottery this week about Connor Bedard‘s amazing, quick release. We’ll continue pouring over the skills Bedard for the next month or so until he’s officially selected, but what caught my attention in the Pope story was a statement about what the Blackhawks will be looking for with their second pick in the first round — now No. 19 overall thanks to the Florida Panthers advancing to the Eastern Conference Final.
“I don’t know who’s going to be there because I think the board is going to go a little bit wacky after eighth or ninth, depending on if people take defensemen,” Doneghey said. “Hopefully we get a guy that can skate really fast, has quick hands, has a high hockey IQ and is competitive.
“Maybe a guy falls. Maybe we take a chance on a guy that we like but we can’t get [in the second round, but who is] there at 19th.”
- If you’ve paid attention to what the Blackhawks have acquired since Kyle Davidson became the general manager, those are the qualities they have been focused on adding in bulk. So it shouldn’t be a shock to hear them again here. But we’ll put it in bold again: speed, quick hands, smart and competitive. Got it.
- You know what I love about this time of year? Desperate writers throwing around insane ideas without spending a second to consider reality. And hoo boy did we ever get a pipe dream out of Boston on Saturday when Kevin Paul Dupont wrote a farfetched piece wondering if the Bruins should try to trade up to the No. 1 overall pick. (Yes, I laughed out loud.)
- The first problem: context. Dupont’s hypothetic deal appears to be Charlie McAvoy, Linus Ullmark and Jake DeBrusk for the top pick. For those of us who pay attention, this is precisely the opposite of what Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson has talked about doing for more than a year, and in the last week since winning the lottery he’s doubled-down on the long-game.
- The second problem: value. Sure, the Blackhawks would be bringing back three good NHL players. But none of them is close to the caliber of Bedard off the ice; none of them are going to sell tickets or merch at the rate we’ve already seen based on nothing more than the prospect of drafted Bedard. And, considering Bedard’s ceiling, there’s nothing in those three veterans that excites me at all. And with the Bruins not having a first or second-round pick this year or a second or third-round pick next year, there’s no way GMKD even picks up the phone for this offer.
- But hey, fans of and writers about the best regular season team in NHL history that just got bounced in the first round of the playoffs can dream… right? Get ready for thought pieces from just about every NHL city about how/why their team should trade for Bedard with a proposal that holds less weight than a wet paper towel — like this one.
- Finally, how about a Cubs prospect going yard — with the bases loaded?
