Morning Chirps: Dickinson and Murphy updates, new Carlson suitor

This week will be a busy one, with the first round of the NHL Entry Draft on Friday night and rounds 2-7 on Saturday. There should be plenty of trades across the league leading up to the draft, plus we’ll take a look at some potential targets. Until then, enjoy your Sunday Morning Chirps.

Blackhawks Chirps

• Justin Lynch tells us why Jonathan Toews is the best captain in Blackhawks history, and it's hard to argue with him.

• Jay Zawaski and I made a bold Blackhawks trade for this offseason on this CHGO Blackhawks Mini-podcast.

• I talked to Josh Frydman on GN Sports’ Gimme 5 about Toews’ retirement, the NHL Draft, and the Blackhawks ideal offseason.

• On this date in 1997, the Blackhawks had two first-round picks at the NHL Entry Draft in Philadelphia. They used the 13th overall pick to select Daniel Cleary, who played 41 games for the Blackhawks before being part of a seven-player trade with the Edmonton Oilers in 1999, which brought Dean McCammond and Boris Mironov to Chicago. The 16th pick, acquired from the Phoenix Coyotes as part of the Jeremy Roenick trade, was used on forward Ty Jones, who only played eight NHL games.

• In 2003, general manager Mike Smith began laying the foundation for the Stanley Cup era at the NHL Entry Draft in Nashville. He selected defenseman Brent Seabrook with the 14th overall pick, before taking goaltender Corey Crawford in the second round. The steal of the draft came when he took Dustin Byfuglien with the 245th overall pick.

• In 2019, Stan Bowman dropped the ball by taking Kirby Dach with the third overall pick instead of players like Bowen Byram, Moritz Seider, Dylan Cozens, Trevor Zegras, Matt Boldy, and Cole Caufield. The only other player from this draft class to play in the NHL was second-round pick Alex Vlasic, who has become a core piece of the rebuild.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, June 21: Pascal Rheaume, Reed Low, and Kevin Korchinski.

NHL Chirps

• Lost in all the Mike Babcock chatter, the Oilers still need to improve their roster this summer. Two former Blackhawks, Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy, could be staying in Edmonton. Mark Spector reports that Dickinson and the Oilers are making “very positive movement towards reaching a deal.” Regarding Murphy, Spector says he and the team are having ongoing discussions, and the new coaching hire is not the primary factor.

• Defenseman John Carlson is on the wish list for many Blackhawks fans this summer, but Pierre LeBrun has another team in the mix. He says that the Tampa Bay Lightning will be one of Carlson’s many potential suitors. He would be the ideal replacement for Darren Raddysh, who is now on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

• Forward Nicolas Deslauriers signed a new two-year contract extension with the Carolina Hurricanes during the team’s Stanley Cup parade on Saturday. He will make $875,000 per season over the next two years.

• Adam Foote was fired by the Vancouver Canucks after just one season as their head coach. He will return to an NHL bench this upcoming season as an assistant coach for the Utah Mammoth.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, June 21: Buddy O’Connor, Denis Dupere, Ron Low, Bob Bourne, Lucien DeBlois, Darryl Shannon, Jochen Hecht, and Marc Methot.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow