Scary News from Vegas, Big Money in Tampa, Chicago’s Contention Timeline, Iginla Back, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

Tab Bamford Tab Bamford
Jun 16, 2023
Jun 16, 2023

It’s Friday. There are no NHL games today — or until September. We’re more than one full week away from the NHL Draft, free agency is looming, and trades are going to start happening at some point soon. So what do we do with our time? Well…

  • The biggest news in the NHL on Thursday had nothing to do with the 2023 NHL Draft. According to an ESPN report late last night, Las Vegas police apprehended a 33-year-old man hours before Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final who was planning a horrific act. Thankfully, concerned citizens did the right thing and reported him early enough and police acted on those calls quickly enough to avoid an awful scene.

  • This was the biggest news in the league until the scary story in Vegas broke late last night. The Tampa Bay Lightning have been one of the better organizations in the NHL since they appeared in the Stanley Cup Final against the Blackhawks in 2015 — five short years after Jeff Vinik bought the franchise. Yesterday, they reportedly sold a minority stake in the team at a $1.4 billion (BIG B) valuation. That’s a huge number; the Ottawa Senators are reportedly selling for around $950 million. This will reset the valuations of every franchise in the NHL, and it’s GREAT news for the league that a team in a non-traditional market is increasing in value so rapidly.

  • The NHL ** OFFICIALLY ** published the as-of-now 2023 NHL Draft order on Thursday. There was some question if the Philadelphia Flyers would receive a second-round compensatory pick this year because they officially informed Jay O’Brien, the 19th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, that they’re walking away. That doesn’t become officially until the deadline to sign him passes in August, so the Flyers will get an extra pick in the middle of the second round next year.

  • Charlie Roumeliotis put on his prognosticator hat on Thursday and gave us his thoughts on a timeline for the Blackhawks getting back into “contender” status. Hint: it isn’t happening this year, folks. Or next year for that matter.

  • Charlie’s spot on in stating the development of the top tier of prospects this coming season will have an enormous influence on the Blackhawks’ timeline in returning to contention. A few guys — Frank Nazar, Ryan Greene, Dominic James, Aidan Thompson — are going back to college and Sam Rinzel is making the jump to the NCAA. Nolan Allan, Colton Dach and Ethan Del Mastro will go pro this year. And Kevin Korchinski is TBD on NHL or WHL. Add to that how Connor Bedard adjusts to the NHL and how the Blackhawks use their cap space and other picks and this could be a fun one. But… let me ask you a question:

  • This feels like an all-time no brainer. The Flames have brought Jarome Iginla back into the organization formally as an advisor to the GM. He was a tremendous player to watch and leader on the ice.

  • With this news, I asked a question on Twitter that really makes me think. Think about this roster… Iginla joins Rick Nash, Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur as front office executives. Duncan Keith is a scout for the Oilers. Brent Seabrook is coaching in junior. And there are probably another half dozen names or so on this list I would think could move into coaching and/or a front office gig when their careers end. Add to this list Patrick Sharp as an exec in Philly now, Martin St. Louis as a head coach and PK Subban in television and those Olympic teams were loaded with players who are leading the next wave of hockey.

  • The Devils locked up one of their better young players to a long-term deal on Thursday. Bratt has emerged as a legit star on that team, so the term and the number should make their fans incredibly happy.

  • It appears the Devils are going to try the arbitration route with another one of their young players, Timo Meier. We’ll see how that plays out because they paid handsomely for him at the deadline. CapFriendly has a list of players headed to arbitration .

  • OLD FRIEND ALERT! Former Blackhawks draft pick Fredrik Olofsson finally made it to the NHL and saw some playoff action this past season in Dallas. Now, he’s headed to Colorado. Chicago drafted him in the fourth round all the way back in 2014.

  • Last summer, a week before the NHL Draft I probably would have written this exact headline but Alex DeBrincat’s name would have been in the place of Zach LaVine. The Blackhawks’ front office had the intestinal fortitude to do what they felt was necessary to hit the reset button on the franchise and made the bold trade(s). Will the Bulls follow suit this year? Or will they continue trying to find expensive bandaids for their glaring issues?

    • 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 and is the author of three books about the Blackhawks: (Triumph Books),"100 Things Blackhawks Fans Sh🉐ould Know & Do Before They Die" (Triumph Books) and "Chicago Blackhawks: An Illustrated Timeline" (Reedy Press, 2021). Find him on Twitter/X/Instagram/Threadไs at @The1Tab

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