There was hockey yesterday! And there will be hockey today! The Blackhawks prospects have arrived and almost all of them were on the ice at Fifth Third Arena yesterday. There was a lot to take away, and we’ll dive into some comments, quotes and additional thoughts in a moment but I will say it was nice to watch multiple players during the skate today without the one guy who wasn’t here rightfully getting almost all of our collective attention.
Don’t worry: Connor Bedard will be here today. It’s still happening, folks.
Unfortunately for Bedard, it looks like he might be losing a sponsor deal on his first day of camp. BioSteel, which is a league-wide sponsor of the NHL, filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday morning. Ruh roh!
Sports drink company BioSteel files for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Canadꦰa.
— Allan Walsh🏒 (@walsha)
Goaltender Drew Commesso is making the jump to the professional ranks this season. He told us on Wednesday that he worked out “every day” with Boston Bruins’ goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who made some suggestions to tweak his mechanics and set-up (specifically lowering his hands). He also followed Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy’s diet plan and added roughly eight pounds of muscle.
Ryder Rolston‘s speed was one of the things that stood out to me yesterday. His hands are pretty good, too.
It’s early but Ryderꦕ Rolston has been putting on some moves in Blackhawks prospects camp.
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson)
Second-round pick Martin Misiak talked to the media about making the jump to the OHL this year, where he was the No. 1 overall pick in the import draft by the Erie Otters.
“Score a lot of goals,” Misiak said. “That’s what everybody wants. If you score a lot of goals, your team wins, so hopefully I’ll score a lot of goals and play a 200-foot game and help the team win. That’s the most important thing. We have a really good team this year, so we’ve got a lot of work in front of us, but hopefully we’ll climb the standings this year.”
I spoke with ’23 third-rounder Nick Lardis yesterday about his summer between development camp and coming back to Chicago for this prospect experience. But, more than that, I watched him talk with and listen to the “older” prospects in the room. There’s a lot of skill and speed on the ice to love with Lardis. But his engaging personality and want to learn will help him win the day.
Earlier this week I wrote about defenseman Wyatt Kaiser being positioned to make an impact in the NHL this season. Ben Pope looked at Kaiser’s route to the Blackhawks’ roster this season after getting a look for a few games down the stretch last year.
Wyatt Kaiser's push for an NHL roster spot began today, the first day of Blackhawks prospect camp.
"He played to his strengths. If he does that, I think he’s in a really good spot."
New story: — Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST)
Staying on the blue line, I also talked to Ethan Del Mastro yesterday about getting the band back together. The Blackhawks have five (5) players from Canada’s gold medal-winning World Juniors team in this camp. Del Mastro wore an A for Canada in the tournament and has a chance to make a big impression this week. I love his game and can’t wait to see how he progresses as a professional on the ice.
I mentioned in my post-practice thoughts yesterday that you could hear Samuel Savoie chirping the entire time the Blackhawks’ prospects were on the ice. You could also see his smile from the top row of the bleachers at Fifth Third Arena. He’s happy to be signed and ready to build on his post-draft success into a big season in the QMJHL. But… that mustache!
Sam Savoie calls signing his ELC with the a “dream for everyone”. He hasn’t made a cool, big purchase yet though. — Joe Brand (@Joe_Brand1)
Apparently Seth Jones wants to be the captain of the Blackhawks. That’s terrific. And, with the biggest cap hit and the longest financial commitment from the organization, that would make sense — especially if he plans on being in Chicago for the duration of his contract. But do the Blackhawks really need to replace Jonathan Toews this year? I have thoughts…
ICYMI from yesterday, Chicago City Council formally approved the Blackhawks expansion plan for the Fifth Third Arena. In a few years you’ll have four sheets of ice to choose from. I hope this becomes a great place for the community to play hockey. And I hope it helps Chicago get the World Juniors someday as well.
Practice Rink Expansion Pr♒oject Approved By City Council
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks)
Finally, the Bears were awful on Sunday and our guys had thoughts. Give their show a watch! It’s terrific, even if the team is not.
BN Bears Show: It's Time for Justin Fields to Take Charge of the Bears Offense
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 Thi♌ngs Blackhawks♏ Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die" (Triumph Books) and "Chicago Blackhawks: An Illustrated Timeline" (Reedy Press, 2021). Find him on Twitter/X/In🌌stagram/Threads at @The1Tab
After practice on Thursday afternoon, the Chicago Blackhawks formally introduced Nick Foligno as the 35th captain in ༺the histo🐻ry of the franchise in a press event at Fifth Third Arena. //twitter.com/The1Tab/status/1836849752438436160 Foligno's free agent rights were acquired last summer (with...
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