The Florida Panthers avoided being a historic footnote last night and instead made themselves the headline. On the back of truly spectacular goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky and a renewed defensive commitment, the Panthers skated away with an exhilarating 2-1 victory. Last night’s game was a worthy exclamation point for one of the best Stanley Cup Final series we’ve ever seen.
It’s hard to not have a little dust spontaneously show up in the room when the postgame ceremonies and interviews take place. Watching Matthew Tkachuk’s dad and brother cry as he skated with the Cup above his head was a lot. Kyle Okposo finally getting to the mountain top after 17 long years was fabulous. But this interview that Paul Maurice did on the ice with Sportsnet was literally everything. Maurice is a national treasure and one of the great people in the game and this interview put it all out there. His emotions. His family. And a nod to a previous employer. A lot of people were rooting for the Panthers largely/completely because of Maurice and this is why.
Congrats to Connor McDavid for becoming the sixth player — second skater — in history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy on a losing team. I don’t want to say it was inevitable that the Oilers would lose the Final after they signed Corey Perry, but… at least he’s consistent. One of the other five: Blackhawks great Glenn Hall, when he was with the Blues in 1968.
While we’re on the subject of losing, Craig Morgan dropped this bomb late last night. Alex Meruelo either got the memo, finally saw the light or has been forced to walk away from his ownership of whatever is left of the Arizona/Phoenix Coyotes property. This comes just a couple days after the state of Arizona pulled the land auction off the table in part because Meruelo’s group failed to do, you know, the little things like get the appropriate zoning paperwork filed on time. His tenure owning an NHL franchise has been a disgrace to the game and I hope he goes back to hating the media even though he owns radio stations in California. Whether or not the NHL returns to Arizona is now very much TBD, but it might have a better chance with this guy no longer owning the right of first refusal.
Also, shoutout to the Bruins and Senators for making a blockbuster trade just 20 minutes before puck drop on Game 7. I’m sure the league office is thrilled they decided to make a trade of that significance after the skaters had taken the ice for their warm-ups. The Sens gave the Bruins their first-round pick on Friday night back with a goaltender and depth forward for Linus Ullmark. Now teams like the Blackhawks can respectfully get busy making moves before the draft begins on Friday night.
Earlier this morning I dropped my FINAL Big Board, names I have circled for the Blackhawks’ picks in the first three rounds of this weekend’s 2024 NHL Draft.
I’ve mentioned under-the-radar moves in Rockford a couple times this offseason before, and the IceHogs made another one on Monday. Rockford signed 29-year-old forward forward Brandon Baddock to a one-year, AHL contract. Baddock, listed at 6-3 and 223 pounds, was an alternate captain in Rockford last season and was credited with three assists in 63 appearances. He also led Rockford with 111 penalty minutes. So the muscle is headed back to the IceHogs with more kids arriving next season. Good.
Baddock won’t be among the players fighting for a roster spot with the Blackhawks during in the preseason, but some of the younger players I referenced will be. And we put together the Hawks’ preseason schedule yesterday with some help from the teams they’re playing against.
File this one away as intriguing. For some time now, most of us have assumed the Blackhawks are picking between Russian sniper Ivan Demidov and Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov at No. 2 overall on Friday night. Well, they haven’t stopped doing their homework. David Pagnotta at The Fourth Period shared that the 6-7 Russian defenseman has met with each of the teams in the top five. I’m sticking with the likelihood that it will be one of the two we’ve discussed at length, but… defensemen this size don’t grow on trees. (Of course, the Blackhawks already have Alex Vlasic… and Ethan Del Mastro… and could re-sign Louis Crevier…)
I did the homework for you and put together the full (current – subject to change) list of picks the other teams in the Central have this weekend at the draft. Could Utah be interested in Anton Silayev with their first pick? If they keep it?
Some enormous news in the college hockey world on Monday. Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson announced the 2024-25 season will be his last. Brock Sheahan has been named the “head coach-in-waiting” and will take over for the 2025-26 season, giving the Irish come continuity behind the bench. The Blackhawks have had so many prospects go thru Notre Dame over the past two decades, from Stephen Johns and Vinnie Hinostroza to Landon Slaggert, that this feels like a cousin is moving on. Congrats on one helluva career!
Finally, I know things aren’t going incredibly well on the North Side right now so let’s focus on good prospects who are coming… because we’re kinda used to that here in the Blackhawks section, aren’t we?
NEWSLETTER
