Morning Chirps: Bedard injured during training, Ovechkin back for one more year

There was some bad news out of Vancouver on Thursday, but it is still too early to know exactly how bad it is. Meanwhile, the NHL’s all-time leader in goals signed his likely last contract, while a top prospect signed his first.

Blackhawks Chirps

• Our Ryan McGregor was the first to break the news that Connor Bedard suffered an injury during his training in Vancouver. During a drill, he fell to the ice onto his left shoulder and immediately skated off the ice in pain. This is the opposite shoulder he injured back in December. I’m not going to panic and scream that the sky is falling because of this footage. Sure, it doesn’t look great, but to speculate about the severity from the video provided by Blackhawks Focus is just silly. It’s July 2, so even if it’s something bad, there are roughly 10 weeks before training camp begins. The timing is worse for his camp at the negotiating table as we await the completion of his next contract. Bedard’s group isn’t scheduled to work out again until Tuesday, but as soon as there is an official update, we’ll pass it along to you.

• Since a top-six forward to play with Bedard has yet to be brought in from the outside, Justin Lynch took a look at the options already on the roster.

• The New Jersey Devils put the pressure on the Utah Mammoth by signing Barrett Hayton to an offer sheet. Nestor Quixtan wondered if the Blackhawks should be worried about the same thing happening to their top star, who has bigger things to worry about right now.

• Bowen Byram revealed why he’s switching from No. 4 to 24, but I wonder if optics had something to do with it as well.

• On this date in 1997, Bob Pulford announced his retirement after 20 years with the team and stepped down as general manager. Bob Murray was named as his replacement. But Pulford couldn’t stay away very long, as he had two more stints as general manager, first for nine months between 1999 and 2000, and again in October of 2023 until he stepped down for good in 2005.

• One year later, Murray signed future Hall of Famer Doug Gilmour. He was still rather effective late in his career with 38 goals and 112 points in his 135 games with the team. He was named team captain after Chris Chelios was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in 1999.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, July 3: Cully Dahlstrom, Adrian Aucoin, and Dennis Rasmussen.

NHL Chirps

• The NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer is coming back for one more season. Alex Ovechkin signed a one-year, $4.25 million contract with the Washington Capitals, who have put together one heck of an offseason.

• Elliotte Friedman reported that the Anaheim Ducks have told teams that they will match any offer sheet given to center Leo Carlsson. He added that Pat Verbeek wasn’t extremely active in free agency to make sure he had plenty of salary cap space to take care of Carlsson.

• The Minnesota Wild acquired forward Blake Coleman and defenseman Olli Määttä from the Calgary Flames for defenseman Jake Middleton, a 2029 second-round pick, a 2027 third-round pick, and a 2008 fourth-round pick. The Flames will retain 50% of Coleman’s salary.

• The San Jose Sharks signed Ivar Stenberg to his entry-level contract. The second-overall pick of this year’s draft is expected to play in the NHL right away.

• The Montreal Canadiens locked up another one of their young players by signing goaltender Jakub Dobes to a three-year, $16.07 million contract.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, July 3: Ace Bailey, Dave Lewis, Håkan Loob, Jarmo Kekäläinen, Teppo Numminen, Teemu Selänne, Wade Belak, Antti Miettinen, Anders Lee, and Dominic James.

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