Today is July 31, which means it’s the last day of the second-to-last month before hockey returns. Baby steps, Blackhawks fans. Tomorrow begins August. However, today we celebrate. It’s Troy Murray‘s birthday! In 1986, Murray became the first Blackhawks skater to win the Selke Trophy. He was a terrific center who could do it all (oh, and he went to the University of North Dakota before wearing No. 19 for the Hawks). But beyond what he did on the ice, Troy is truly one of the wonderful human beings in the game. He’s a survivor, a battler and someone who brings a smile to everyone’s face when he enters any room. Happy birthday, Troy!
Today is also Wyatt Kaiser‘s 21st birthday. He looked good in nine NHL games last season after signing his entry-level contract. I’m excited for Kaiser’s future with the team, whether he starts the coming season in Chicago or Rockford. Hopefully he can celebrate a little today and be ready for an important training camp in a little more than a month.
At this morning, Dom Luszczyszyn took about the task of ranking how efficient he feels every team’s payroll is heading into the 2023-24 season. As you might assume reading his tweet below, the Blackhawks ranked last in the NHL. Dom points to the $4 million deals Chicago gave Nick Foligno and Corey Perry for the coming seasons as overpays (they are) and continued his barnstorming that Seth Jones has the worst contract in the league.
While I appreciate the reality if we focus only on the current roster spend — has the Blackhawks at $12,864,876 in available cap space at the moment — I think many of us here understand and appreciate the how and why of the current payroll structure in Chicago. The only forward on the NHL roster books for more than two years at this point is Connor Bedard.
Are the Blackhawks overpaying a few guys? Sure. But I think it’s more important to keep in mind that Kyle Davidson has maintained his payroll flexibility into the future when he may have opportunities to add more significant veterans — and when it’s time to pay young players on their next deals (see: Bedard, Kevin Korchinski). The Blackhawks can afford to have a few bad deals at this stage in the rebuild because they aren’t spending big on anyone other than Jones. They’re building something, and doing it right with short-term obligations.
From Florida to Chicago — a look at each team's contract efficiency. Which front offices are spending their money the most wisely? — dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn)
According to this report from Crain’s Chicago Business, the Wirtz Corp. board approved Danny Wirtz as the successor to Rocky atop the business operations on Saturday. This was a move that had been planned; Danny took over many of the responsibilities since the pandemic. But now it’s official.
Danny Wirtz succeeds father Rocky at Wirtz Corp. as the fourth generation takes the reins of a company that is far more than just the — Steve Daniels (@stevedaniels27)
The Blackhawks’ four prospects — Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore, Gavin Hayes and Sam Rinzel — will be in action for the US at the Summer Showcase today. Both teams lost their first games, so they’ll look for better performances.
We're ready for another game day ! 🇺🇸
Don’t miss Team USA taking on Sweden and Finland on !
Details → — USA Hockey (@usahockey)
If you think the Blackhawks and Philipp Kurashev were far apart heading into their arbitration hearing, the Ducks have a big decision looming with forward Troy Terry. Terry, who turns 26 on Sept. 10, has scored 60 goals in 145 games over the past two seasons. He believes that makes him an $8 million player. The Ducks think he isn’t quite a $5 million player yet. I’m fascinated to see how this one playsout.
Anaheim and Troy Terry m🎉ade their a🍃rbitration submissions — team: $4.5M, player: $8M
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC)
Finally, Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is tomorrow afternoon. Which means the Blogathon is under way! Brett’s amazing for pulling off 42 straight hours of covering the deadline to raise money for a great cause.
Let’s go get some coffee.꧂ We can chat🔴 along the way …
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 Should Kn🍌ow & Do Before They Die" (Triumph Books) and "Chicago Blackhawks: An Illustrated Timeline" (Reedy Press, 2021). Find him on Twitter/X/Instagram/💎Threads at @The1Tab
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