Morning Chirps: Greene recalled ahead of season opener, McDavid extended

It’s the first game day of the regular season! After checking out this fresh batch of Morning Chirps, stick around for complete coverage of today’s game with the Florida Panthers. We’ll have our full game preview, complete with three key things to watch, followed by some Postgame Musings after the game.

Blackhawks Chirps

• Yesterday, the Blackhawks recalled Ryan Greene from the Rockford IceHogs and placed Landon Slaggert and Joey Anderson on injured reserve with lower-body injuries. Defenseman Alex Vlasic will miss the season opener, but is hopeful to play Thursday in Boston.

• The staff here at Blackhawk Up got together to give our Blackhawks predictions for the upcoming season. Be on the lookout for our NHL predictions later this morning.

• Speaking of predictions, I joined the CHGO Blackhawks Podcast for their season preview episode yesterday.

• Mark Lazerus of The Athletic spoke to Florida Panthers defenseman Seth Jones about his final days in Chicago.

• On this date in 1952, Stan Mikita scored the first goal of his legendary career during a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers. Exactly 17 years later, in 1976, Mikita became the third player in NHL history to score 1,300 career points with a goal during a 6-4 victory against the St. Louis Blues.

• In 1992, the Tampa Bay Lightning played their first game in franchise history by beating the Blackhawks 7-3. Chris Kontos was the hero of the night for the NHL’s newest team with four goals.

• In 2000, Alexei Zhamnov picked up his 500th career point with a power-play goal during a 5-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Oct. 7: Brian Sutter

NHL Chirps

• The biggest news of the day was Connor McDavid signing a two-year, $25 million contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers. The short-term deal shows two things: McDavid is giving Stan Bowman a small window to put together a championship team, and he’ll be due a new contract when the salary cap has made a significant jump.

• Our friends at Oil On Whyte have all the angles of the McDavid story covered. Todd Matthews says McDavid’s loyalty raises tough questions for other NHL stars. Almar Reyes outlines three big ways the deal impacts the Oilers’ future. And Brandon Croce says his commitment to the Oilers and winning has never been clearer.

• McDavid wasn’t the only player to get an extension in Edmonton. Defenseman Jake Walman signed a seven-year, $49 million deal. Remember when Steve Yzerman gave up a second-round pick so the San Jose Sharks would take on Walman’s contract? Those were good times!  

• According to Frank Seravalli, Logan Cooley turned down an eight-year, $77 million contract offer from the Utah Mammoth. That is a very generous offer for a young player who has 45 goals and 109 points in 157 games. It’s one thing to bet on yourself, but he might come to regret not signing this deal. If he waits until next summer to sign a deal, he’s ineligible to accept an offer sheet, which takes away all his leverage.

• The Boston Bruins announced they will retire Zdeno Chara’s No. 33 later this season.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Oct. 7: Frack Boucher, Gary Bergman, Jacques Richard, David Bruce, Scottie Upshall, Josh Mason, and Matthew Stienburg.