Welcome to the final day of the 2023-24 NHL season, hockey fans! The Blackhawks visit the LA Kings to close the books on their campaign tonight. Gotta love a 9:30 puck drop against a team that’s beat the Hawks soundly a couple time this season to end the year, right? But this is it, the finale. So I’ll be right here where I always am, watching the game, digesting what happens and doing my best to share my thoughts about the proceedings as soon as it ends.
Before we get into some Blackhawks stuff, I want to share this from after the final game in the existence of the Arizona Coyotes. The league’s Board of Governors has a call this afternoon to approve the relocation to Salt Lake City. It’s a done deal. Todd Walsh has done a brilliant job of telling the Coyotes’ story for almost three decades. This couldn’t have been easy for him to deliver on the air, but he did it brilliantly. It’s worth your time because it speaks to everything we love about the game on a much higher level than just the specific situation in the desert right now.
If you’re gonna read one article about the Blackhawks today (that I didn’t write), I’ve got two strong suggestions. First on the board: remember those couple times that I made the case that Jason Dickinson should get votes for the Selke Trophy? Well, my guy Charlie Roumeliotis at NBC Sports Chicago jumped on the bandwagon with authority yesterday. In addition to some of the points I have made previously, I wanted to specifically highlight this updated number on Dickinson entering the regular season finale:
When Dickinson has been on the ice during 5-on-5 action, the Blackhawks have a +9 goal differential, per Natural Stat Trick. When he’s not on the ice, they have a -94 differential.
My second suggestion for a must-read today is this really good piece from Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers at The Athletic on the rookie season of Connor Bedard. Staring all of the pressure imaginable in the eye and not blinking for an entire season, Bedard has lived up to the hype on and off the ice.
I won’t spoil their story for you, but this quote from Bedard’s agent, Greg Landry of Newport Sports Management, about him being at the All-Star Game in Toronto really summarizes the Bedard experience this season perfectly.
“He’s obviously a big name, and it was in Toronto, and (there) was a lot of attention on hockey,” Landry said. “And I think he felt it was the right thing to do, to be there (and) help grow the game through that event. He definitely gets it from that perspective.”
Speaking of marketing Bedard, we found out on Wednesday that the 2025 Winter Classic will take place… in 2024. Get ready to spend your New Year’s Eve at Wrigley Field, Blackhawks fans. Because puck drop will happen between the Blackhawks and Blues somewhere around the second base bag just after 4 PM CT on Dec. 31, 2024.
Connor Murphy‘s a good dude. He’s a very good leader in the room and on the bench and on the ice. But away from the rink, he’s been one of the faces of the Blackhawks organization in the community since he arrived here. For the fourth straight year, Murph was named the Blackhawks’ nominee for the King Clancy Trophy on Wednesday.
How about some hugs from last night’s finales? Jeff Carter called it a career for the Penguins after last night’s game. Sidney Crosby moved to the wing so Carter could take the opening faceoff, and then set him up for his final NHL goal during the game. After the final horn, all of the New York Islanders showed their respect to the veteran who won a Calder Cup with Patrick Sharp back in they day.
Even though their soon-to-be former owner Alex Merulo reportedly didn’t show up for the final home game in Arizona, the Coyotes still had to play an emotional game. Their fans were clearly not happy about the team leaving. The players were clearly feeling it after the game as well. I opened today with Todd Walsh’s comments because, while some of us might make fun of them being a “poverty franchise” and take cheap shots at them finally leaving the desert, there are so many lives that are going to be impacted by this move. So the players lining up to give their equipment manager some respect showed a lot and hit me in the feels.
We had a chance to witness history from two players on the same sheet of ice last night in Tampa. Auston Matthews did everything he could to score a 70th goal except put it in. He was *officially* credited with 12 shots on net last night. He finished the season with 69 goals — still a remarkable (nice) achievement.
But his history-chasing opponent, Nikita Kucherov, got his number. With his helper on Brayden Point’s power play goal at 17:05 into the second period, Kucherov became the fifth player in NHL history to record 100 assists in a season. He joins Wayne Gretzky (who did it 11 times!), Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr and Connor McDavid — who did it this season as well. But Kucherov joined an even more exclusive list last night than one with five names on it. How about these three:
Finally, the schedule said the Bulls and Hawks had a play-in game last night. But it should have read “Coby White’s National Coming Out Party,” because the Bulls’ guard owned the night. He lit Atlanta up for a career night in front of the eyes of the entire NBA, making sure everyone with a vote for the league’s Most Improved Player knows how to spell his name on their ballot. He’s been sensational this season, and he’ll get another chance to show it against Miami in the next game.
NEWSLETTER
