Full marks to the Blackhawks for being the better team last night. Period. There’s no question that Edmonton has more talent on their roster, but it was painfully clear to anyone who watched that game that one team really wanted to win and the other was… the Oilers. The Blackhawks committed to blocking shots, making simple, smart plays and executing the systems their coaches put into play. And it paid off big time with a stunning 5-2 win over the defending Western Conference champions.
If we erase the first period in Utah, the Blackhawks have been at least competitive, if not the more aggressive team, in the last eight periods of play. And the improved roster got *this close* to beating the Jets and finished the deal emphatically on Saturday night. If you don’t sense a different vibe from this roster than the Blackhawks had at almost any time last year, I can’t help you.
- The Blackhawks’ full roster defensive effort last night was great, from the defensemen to the forwards. But I want to take a moment to shout out Jason Dickinson. He’s asked to be a shut down center, playing most of his shifts against the best players on the opposing roster. Last night, Dickinson spent 4:51 on the ice at 5-on-5 against Connor McDavid. During that time, the Blackhawks out-shot the Oilers 2-1. Yeah, some people will look at the fact that he won only 5 of 17 faceoffs and scoff. He also blocked two shots and was credited with one hit and one takeaway. Last night’s game should be the first installment of his Selke campaign this year. Dickinson — with Joey Anderson and Ilya Mikheyev — did a great job defensively last night.
- Connor Bedard has played in Edmonton twice. He has scored in both games.
- The Blackhawks’ power play was perfect in three opportunities last night. It’s almost like the coaches had an idea of what might work and they just needed to spend some time working on things to get it to click. Almost…
- Wyatt Kaiser was really good last night. He’s been really good in both of his appearances thus far. And I’m thrilled for the kid because he’s earned it, and had a scary training camp.
- I tracked all of the Blackhawks’ prospects who weren’t playing in Rockford’s opener last night.
- Some bad news for Blackhawks fans hoping for a matchup of No. 1 picks in the home opener. The San Jose Sharks placed Macklin Celebrini on IR on Saturday (retroactive to after their opening game on Thursday night). It looks like he’s not going to be available at the United Center on Thursday of this week. The Blackhawks are in San Jose on Halloween.
- Interesting nugget from Chris Johnston of The Athletic in a mailbag on Saturday morning. He was asked if the Blackhawks are no longer eligible to win the NHL Draft Lottery this year because they selected No. 2 overall this past year. He went all the way to the NHL to clarify his answer, and while it’s what I expected he added another wrinkle to the situation.
I took this query to the NHL and can confirm that the Blackhawks are still eligible to win another draft lottery in the next three years. First, some background: In 2021, the league tweaked its draft lottery rules to restrict any team from โwinningโ more than twice in a five-year span โ with a โwinโ occurring when a team moves up to grab the No. 1 or No. 2 overall pick. In the Blackhawksโ case, they are considered to have won the No. 1 selection used to draft Connor Bedard in 2023 because they finished 30th overall that season. But this yearโs No. 2 pick, used on Artyom Levshunov, is not considered a win because Chicago finished with the NHLโs second-worst record at 31st overall. What this means is that the same team could technically draft first in five straight years provided it kept finishing at the bottom of the standings.
- So long as a team doesn’t “win” — meaning improve — the draft lottery, they can continue selecting as high as they place/low as they are in the standings. I don’t think that’s a motivating factor for the Blackhawks, but it’s interesting.
- Before their opener on Saturday, the Rockford IceHogs announced Brett Seney will be the team’s captain this season. Cole Guttman and Isaak Phillips will be the assistant captains.
- In the IceHogs’ game, Colton Dach opened the scoring in the first period and won a fight later in the night. Kevin Korchinski — yes, a defenseman — scored a power play goal to make it 2-0 in the second. Frank Nazar and Landon Slaggert had the assists on Rockford’s third goal of the night (from Cavan Fitzgerald). Samuel Savoie scored the fourth goal. The IceHogs are gonna be an absolute unit.
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- The Bears are in action IN LONDON on Sunday morning! Wake up early, make a little coffee and get after it. We’ve got you covered from top to bottom this morning.
- So… are we ever gonna see Lonzo Ball in a preseason game?
- We learned the number for qualifying offers in MLB this season. There are some guys who are a slam dunk to at least receive a QO (Pete Alonso, Juan Soto). We’ll see if that deters the Cubs from being active in free agency.