Rockford Records, Waddell Leaving Carolina? a Landeskog Comeback, a Lost Bet, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

The Blackhawks have three players remaining in the World Championships as the brackets advance to the semifinals: Connor Bedard and Canada, Philipp Kurashev and Switzerland and Petr Mrazek with the hosts from Czechia. The two games will be played on Saturday morning at 7:20 and 11:20 AM CT. Bedard will face Kurashev in the later-morning tilt (our time).

  • The Rockford IceHogs shared a fun post with a list of new club records that were set this year. Blackhawks prospects did some good things in the AHL this year. The goalies broke a bunch of records, and did some things hadn’t happened before this year:
  • Goaltender Jaxson Stauber, who is an RFA this summer, set new team marks with a 13-game win streak and five points this season. He also became the first AHL goaltender to ever record a shutout and a goal in the same game. I’m interested to see what the Blackhawks do with him. He had a solid season.
  • Goaltender Drew Commesso became the youngest IceHogs goalie to pitch a shutout (breaking the previous record owned by Arvid Söderblom), had the most saves in a single playoff period (19) and his two shutouts tied the rookie record held by, among others, Stauber.
  • One other record that I thought was interesting enough to share here (you can click the link to see the rest): On Nov. 18, Colton Dach became the first IceHogs player to ever record a hat trick and a shootout goal in the same game.
  • https://twitter.com/goicehogs/status/1793742805887758580

  • Let’s talk about general managers for a couple minutes here, shall we? The first name on my big board of What Is Going On? this morning is Don Waddell of the Carolina Hurricanes. As Game One of the Western Conference final got started, the interwebs blew up with rumors and reports about his future in Carolina. (Remember: we were talking about the future of his head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, last week.) The noise started when Pierre LeBrun shared that Waddell has received permission to speak with other teams (see below). Then Elliotte Friedman comes flying in off the top rope with the report (later confirmed by LeBrun) that Waddell interviewed with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. David Pagnotta also shared that he’s hearing Eric Tulsky could be elevated into the GM role in Carolina. Stay tuned on this one….
  • This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, but the general managers of three of the best teams in the league were named the finalists for the NHL’s GM of the Year award. Vancouver’s Patrik Allvin, Dallas’ Jim Nill and Florida’s Bill Zito are the finalists.
  • This was good news for the Colorado Avalanche (and those of us who respect good captains) on Thursday. I noted in my bullets yesterday that Gabriel Landeskog was slated to speak with the media in Denver, and my fear was that he was going to call it a career after missing two entire seasons. That is not the case. He wants to be back in time for training camp. Here’s hoping he can return fully healthy. (I don’t want the Avs to get that cap space back for a few years….)
  • I do love it when mayors still make bets on playoff series. There wasn’t any swapping of ribs for crab legs between Vancouver and Edmonton, but there was a new flag flying above city hall after the Canucks lost. Thankfully they only have to fly it before Game One took place on Thursday night.
  • We’ve talked about the future of broadcasts for the Blackhawks (and Bulls and White Sox) here as things are developing around the Chicago media world. Unfortunately, change means more change, and there are some really good people who might not be as comfortable with their employment as they were a few months ago. Which sucks. I’ve worked with a lot of the folks at NBC Sports Chicago dating all the way back to the SportsChannel days and some appearances on “Chicago Tribune Live” so reading this hurt. Here’s hoping everyone can happily find a landing spot.
  • Finally, I do love crossover content and with no baseball being played in Montreal I think we can all get behind the sentiment that we need the Expos to return. And, while we’re at it, the Hartford Whalers, too.
  • 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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