Moving Up in the Draft, Not Enough Time for Quenneville to Return, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

Thanks to the Panthers sweeping the Canes, there is no hockey on Friday night of Memorial Day weekend. But there will be hockey in Las Vegas on Saturday night after the Stars were able to pull off an overtime win in Dallas last night. Joe Pavelski was the OT hero with a power play goal to end it. So there will not be two sweeps in the conference finals.

Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler of The Athletic posted a fun mailbag of sorts, answering draft-related questions from the team of writers. Mark Lazerus asked them about the possibility of the Blackhawks moving up in the draft — and what the cost might be. We already looked at some recent trade-up scenarios and considered the cost, but their comments were interesting.

Pronman’s response: “It all depends on the caliber of player you’re talking about to pick. Getting a player like Reinbacher, Leonard or Dvorsky would be a needle mover, but I don’t see 19 plus a second being enough to do that. If you’re not getting a true premium guy or a guy you have top eight or so on your team’s personal list, I don’t see the value in doing so. You’re going to get a player you are very passionate about at 19.”

Wheeler, in part, said: “Given the core group of talent you’d likely be gaining access to by moving up from No. 19 even a few spots, though, I do think you’re looking at more than No. 19 and the earliest of their four seconds. … Does No. 19 plus the pick in the 30s and one of the picks in the 50s get you into the top 15? Maybe? Is that a worthwhile play? I’d need to know who they’d be after.”

Consider this a pre-draft press conference of sorts for @coreypronman and @scottcwheeler.

Fifteen writers submitted draft-related questions, and now, readers have answers to the most pressing queries.https://t.co/lZ7uVgGfki— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) May 25, 2023

This is absolutely something to keep an eye on this summer as teams show interest in now-former Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas. Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff reported on Thursday that the NHLPA is investigating his relationship with his agent — and whether or not an agent working at a prominent agency that represents players can permissibly represent front office executives at the same time.

Dubas was represented in his recent negotiations with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment by Chris Armstrong, of Wasserman Sports, the same agency that also represents Toronto superstar Auston Matthews.

NHLPA Certified Agent regulations prohibit agents from representing and providing services to any officer or employee of an NHL club. Armstrong is not currently an NHL certified agent and therefore not subject to discipline by the NHLPA; Armstrong is predominantly a golf agent and represents professional golfers Tony Finau and Cameron Champ, among others, for Wasserman.

The question for the NHLPA to determine: Are agents working for the same agency, but in a different division or arm of the firm, also prohibited from representing hockey executives on the other side of the table?

The @NHLPA confirms it is reviewing former #Leafs GM Kyle Dubas' relationship with his agent for potential violation, as @wassermanhockey also represents prominent NHL players, including #LeafsForever Auston Matthews.

Story on @DailyFaceoff:https://t.co/x2MWu750b3— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) May 25, 2023

There appears to be some concern about one of the groups we thought was a finalist to buy the Ottawa Senators. As a reminder: Ryan Reynolds’ group has already moved on. Snoop Dogg is part of the Sparks Financial Group, but it sounds like they failed to have their mind on (enough) money…

More alarming details surfacing about the Neko Sparks-led bid to buy the #Sens. Sources say within the last 24 hours, the "Sparks Finance Group" is still soliciting funding.

"This is somewhat of an urgent matter," the Sparks Group wrote to prospective investors.— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) May 26, 2023

After the Stars’ overtime win last night, the NHL released the two possible scheduling options for the Stanley Cup Final. If the Stars fight off elimination again on Saturday night in Vegas, the Stanley Cup Final will get pushed back to a June 3rd start date. If the Golden Knights take care of business at home on Game 5, then we’ll get Game 1 of Vegas vs Florida on May 31st.

The Rangers coaching search is still ongoing, but yesterday the New York Post reported again that Joel Quenneville won’t be their new bench boss. Earlier this month, TSN’s NHL Insider Darren Dreger reported that it was a “strong possibility” Quenneville would return to the coaching ranks. Then a few weeks after that, it was reported that Quenneville would have an in-person meeting with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman after the Stanley Cup Final. Quenneville needs reinstatement from Bettman in order to return. The Post’s Larry Brooks has been all over the Rangers coaching search and he stated:

“Our understanding is that there is no expectation within the industry that Quenneville would be reinstated following his sit-down with the commissioner in a timely enough manner to become a candidate for any open job in this current search cycle.”

So it appears while Quenneville might be reinstated at some point, the chances of seeing him behind a bench next season aren’t as high as originally thought.

Elsewhere, could a reunion between Derrick Rose and the Bulls be on the horizon this offseason? The conversation has happened seemingly every offseason since he left. Does it finally make sense this time?

So is it Finally Time for the Derrick Rose Reunion in Chicago?

David Montgomery left the Bears because losing “sucked the fun” out of football. Good thing he ended up with a historically winning franchise in the Lions!

All That Losing “Sucked the Fun” Out of Football for David Montgomery

The game may not have gone how the Cubs wanted, but it was great seeing Kyle Hendricks back on the mound at Wrigley last night. Hendricks went 4.1 innings, allowing 3 ER while striking out 5 and walking 2. The Mets took the game 10-1 largely due to an awful outing from Michael Rucker out of the bullpen, but the Cubs still took 2 of 3 in the series.

Hendricks Happy to Be Back, Start Was Not Bad Under the Hood, Madrigal, Burdi, Palencia, and Other Cubs Bullets