After three days without a game, the Blackhawks play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. Yes, I could have said that last week. And yes, I hope this week ends as well — or better — than last week’s matchup with the Bolts in their barn. After the Blackhawks beat the Panthers, they went on a roll. Tampa hasn’t scored a goal in two game since losing to the Blackhawks on their home ice; they’ve lost 4-0 to Carolina and 5-0 in St. Louis since last Thursday’s game. Beware an angry veteran team…
The Blackhawks made a roster move on Thursday morning. Filip Roos is joining the NHL club and Nikita Zaitsev has been place on non-roster for personal reasons.
Scott Powers made the trip to Ann Arbor last weekend to watch three of the Blackhawks’ recent first-round picks — Michigan’s Frank Nazar, Minnesota’s Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel — play against each other. Watching on television and online this season, it certainly looks like Nazar is really starting to find his groove and go to another level with his game. Moore and Rinzel, both freshmen, have produced well. This is a solid read from Scott, but I’ll point out a couple quotes. He asked Nazar and Moore to scout each other.
“His speed and creating space throughoജut with his speed (stood out),” Nazar ꧙said. “So, like, pushing the ‘D’ back and cutting back. That’s something I might have to steal from him, trying to do that more. But I thought he looked good out there.”
“Taking faceoffs against him, you realize he’s an all-around player,” Moore said. “You always got to🌼 respect his speed and his will to play offense and also play defense. He’s just a good hockey player and someone I r𓂃espect, for sure.”
The good folks at JFresh dropped an updated player card for Seth Jones yesterday, and it’s fairly complimentary. I have questions about the rank on the power play, but this is a nice look for a guy who’s had a couple not-his-best seasons since coming to Chicago. Jones is among the NHL leaders in ice time again this season and has been solid on the penalty kill.
Lukas Reichel was the 17th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. His season has not exactly started as well as anyone would have hoped. But his draft class is providing us with a good reminder that some players just take time to be ready for the show. The top two overall picks that year — Alexis Lafrenière and Quenton Byfield — are finally showing their promise in the NHL. This is a nice read on that subject.
The Buffalo Sabres are at the United Center on Sunday evening, and they’ll be here without Tage Thompson. Thompson was hit in the hand/wrist area with a shot earlier this week and the prognosis isn’t ideal for a team that had playoff aspirations. “Less than a couple of months is what’s expected,” Sabres coach Don Granato said on Wednesday. The next time the Blackhawks face the Sabres is Jan. 17 in Buffalo. That would be right around the two-month mark for Thompson.
The Vancouver Canucks are absolutely rolling people right now; JT Miller, Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson are tied for the NHL lead with 26 points each. But they will now have to find someone to take up roughly 17 minutes per night on the left side of their blue line. They announced Wednesday that defenseman Carson Soucy will be out for six-to-eight weeks with a lower-body injury. I know he’s right-handed, but…. can I interest you in a lightly used Nikita Zaitsev?
The Los Angeles Kings announced earlier this week that they’ll play two preseason games in Quebec City next year: Oct. 3 vs. Boston and Oct. 5 vs. Florida. It has been more than five years since the NHL’s last visit to former home of the Nordiques; the franchise left for Colorado in 1995.
Finally, could… could the Cubs take the Brewers’ manager and then trade for their ace?
