Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson spoke with the media on Wednesday and shared a lot of information about development camp, his roster construction and more. I broke down a lot of it yesterday. But one of the things that he joked about was the whole “Kyle from Chicago” phenomenon. See, Kyle is actually from Sudbury — and his friends back home didn’t let him forget that when the video went viral.
Davidson also mentioned that he felt bad omitting a couple obvious names — Brian Campbell and Patrick Sharp — when he started rolling off names of Blackhawks players during the interview. I’m sure they’re both okay with the end result of the interview. Davidson, on the other hand, is ready to move on with the offseason.
As of Wednesday, the Blackhawks have two No. 1 picks in development camp! Martin Misiak, who the Blackhawks selected 55th overall in the second round last week, was the first overall pick by the Erie Otters (OHL) in the CHL Import Draft.
As I noted in my story about Davidson’s comments on Wednesday, the organization fully expected Philipp Kurashev to file for salary arbitration — and he did. Davidson said he fully expects the team to get a deal done with him, however. There are a few other interesting names on this list, especially Tanner Jeannot in Tampa (considering what they gave up to get him) and Filip Gustavsson in Minnesota.
The Blackhawks have been doing a lot of things with their prospects this week other than skating. There was a cooking class/competition, work with a boxing instructor, a trip down the Chicago River and a night at Second City to learn some improv skills and show off their humor. But something that was interesting that we learned about on Wednesday was the work a former Blackhawks defenseman is doing with the young players. Johnny Oduya is back in the fold working with the guys on their breathing techniques during games and workouts. On Wednesday, all four prospects who spoke — Colton Dach, Drew Commesso, Ryan Greene and Paul Ludwinski — mentioned it was something they learned from this week.
I wrote about goaltender Drew Commesso‘s summer schedule regimen as he prepares for his first full prඣofessional season yesterday. One of the things he said that I really liked that didn’t quite make it into that story was his answer below about being one of the older prospects at this week’s development camp and seeing the influx of young skill into the organization. Love it!
Paul Ludwinski shared with us yesterday that he’s been dealing with an ankle injury for about three months. During development camp he was able to play Smashball pretty much full-go, and that was a good indication to him and the Blackhawks that he’s ready to get back on the ice. So that’s a good development on the health front.
Colton Dach said this past season was tough, dealing with the adversity that came with multiple concussions early in the season and the shoulder injury that ended his World Junior tournament and held him out of some action after he was traded to Seattle. But he feels good now and is ready to prove to the organization that he’s ready to work his way to the NHL.
The Blackhawks announced the numbers for their four new forwards on Wednesday evening. Jason Dickinson is making a change to accommodate one of the new guys, too.
Ben Pope took his run at line combinations on Wednesday. I think he’s spot on with Tyler Johnson being in the bottom six and I really like the idea of Foligno-Guttman-Perry as a line. Where things get interesting is the middle six and on the right side. Based on the comments of Anders Sorsensen and Davidson, I think Ben might be on with Reichel in the middle. Scott Powers previously reported Donato could get a shot at the top-six, and I like that. I don’t think Kurashev is more than a third-line forward and leaving him there with Dickinson and Tyler could prove to be a nice line.
Taylor Hall — Connor Bedard — Taylor Raddysh
Philipp Kurashev — Lukas Reichel — Andreas Athanasiou
Ryan Donato — Jason Dickinson — Tyler Johnson
Nick Foligno — Cole Guttman — Corey Perry
This was interesting — especially because of the timing. We’ve been hearing rumors that Vlad Tarasenko was close to having a deal done with Carolina (with Ottawa in the mix) but he changed agents on Wednesday. We’ll see if that changes where he ends up, or if he just wasn’t getting the offer he wanted.
In college hockey news, Arizona State made the official announcement that they are joining the NCHC next year. This is a great addition for the NCHC and I’m sure that players at Denver, Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota will have no problem making the road trip in December or January.
This isn’t ideal news for the Maple Leafs. Apparently the Coyotes aren’t the only team in the NHL that hasn’t been on time paying its bills lately. Oops!
Finally, this sucks but keep the guy healthy as much/as long as possible.
