Morning Chirps: Frondell adds to his points total, Panarin contract update

The Chicago Blackhawks are in Seattle and are scheduled to practice today in the Emerald City. Meanwhile, their top prospect picked up a pair of points in Sweden, while we heard from another dynamic youngster in Russia. Plus, a former Blackhawks star is looking like he’s on his way to becoming the top free agent of the summer.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks dropped a tough game to the Edmonton Oilers in overtime. Check out my Postgame Musings from late last night to get all the details.

• The Rockford IceHogs lost last night, too. They dropped a 4-2 decision to the Grand Rapids Griffins in their return to the BMO Center. Martin Misiak picked up his first professional point with the primary assist on Jackson Cates’ goal. Nick Lardis scored on the power-play late in the third period, with Brett Seney and Oliver Moore getting the helpers. These two squads will meet again this afternoon in Grand Rapids.

• Anton Frondell recorded two primary assists on Saturday. The third overall pick of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft now has eight goals and 12 points in 17 Swedish Hockey League games.

• Russian prospect Roman Kantserov recently spoke to Sergey Demidov of RG Media. He revealed that the Blackhawks have been contacting him more this season than in years past, since it is the final year of his current contract.

• Jack Pridham closed out his big weekend with this breakaway goal and an assist in the Kitchener Rangers’ 4-0 win over the Brampton Steelheads. He is on a four-game point streak and has points in eight of his last nine games. In 14 Ontario Hockey League games, he has nine goals and 16 points.

• Landon Slaggert’s father, Andy, has a new gig. The Oilers hired him to be their Director of North American Recruiting. He has spent the last 32 years as part of the coaching staff at the University of Notre Dame.

• November usually is a big month for trades, but on this date in 1947, the Blackhawks made a big one. They traded Max Bentley and Cy Thomas to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Gus Bodnar, Bud Poile, Gaye Stewart, Bob Goldman, and Ernie Dickens. Bentley was the NHL’s leading scorer the previous two seasons. He went on to score 122 goals and 256 points while winning three Stanley Cups with the Maple Leafs over the next six years.

• Three years later, Roy Conacher became the 19th player in National Hockey League History to score 200 goals as the Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 5-2.

• The Blackhawks completed another trade on this date in 1993. They sent Steve Larmer and Bryan Marchment to the Hartford Whalers for Eric Weinrich. Hartford then traded Larmer to the New York Rangers, where he won the Stanley Cup the following spring.

• In 2014, former Blackhawk Michael Frolik scored 20 seconds into the first period in a 1-0 Winnipeg Jets win over the Blackhawks. He set the record for the earliest game-winning goal scored in a 1-0 game.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Nov. 2: Paul Thompson, Bill Mosienko, Doug Baldwin, and John Michaluk.

NHL Chirps

• While the focus in Toronto was on the Blue Jays last night, the Maple Leafs beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2. Unfortunately, the result of the game was secondary as Chris Tanev was carried off the ice on a stretcher midway through the third period after a collision with Matvei Michkov. He appeared to make head-to-head contact with Michkov. To make the incident even scarier, this was Tanev’s first game back from a concussion. Head coach Craig Berube said Tanev was showing some positive signs before he was taken to a local hospital.

• Many of the big names of the potential 2026 free agency class have already signed extensions with their clubs. However, according to Pierre LeBrun, the New York Rangers are in no hurry to have contract discussions with star winger Artemi Panarin. It will be interesting to see if he ends up on the trade block this season if it becomes clear that a new deal won’t be signed.

• The Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in overtime last night. They became the fastest team in NHL history to win five overtime games, doing it in just 12 contests.  

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Nov. 2: Rick Ley, Rick Meagher, Jason Smith, Ruslan Salei, Matt Cullen, Luke Schenn, and Filip Hronek.