Morning Chirps: IceHogs get another All-Star, Olympic captains named

While most of the sports world was focused on the Super Bowl, another member of the Chicago Blackhawks organization will participate in the AHL All-Star Classic. Meanwhile in Italy, the men’s teams are starting to take form and name their leadership groups.

Blackhawks Chirps

• Nestor Quixtan dropped in yesterday to give us a couple of articles. First, he wrote about how the Blackhawks could define their trade deadline strategy during the Olympic break.

• Next, he pondered if the Blackhawks would use the next couple of weeks to take care of Connor Bedard’s contract extension.

• The Rockford IceHogs are hosting the AHL All-Star Classic this Tuesday and Wednesday. Captain Brett Seney has been added to the Central Division team. The IceHogs’ leading scorer joins his teammate Nick Lardis and Kevin Korchinski, giving the hosts a trio of All-Stars.

• Staying in Rockford, check out this fun clip of IceHogs goaltender Drew Commesso getting a look at his bobblehead.

• On this date in 1973, Dennis Hull scored twice in the Blackhawks 4-3 win over the Atlanta Flames to give him 200 career goals. The “Silver Jet” finished his career with 303 goals and 654 points in 904 games.

• In 1995, goaltender Ed Belfour appeared in his 300th NHL game and blanked the St. Louis Blues 5-0. The shutout was the 26th of his career and third in his last four starts.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Feb. 9: Andre Burakovsky.

NHL & Olympic Chirps

• The New York Rangers signed veteran defenseman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout with their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolfpack. The 29-year-old blueliner has played 348 NHL games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes, Edmonton Oilers, and Minnesota Wild. He has yet to play this season after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.

• Most of the men’s Olympic teams got on the ice for the first time on Sunday, as the preliminary round begins on Thursday. Team USA named Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews their captain, with Matthew Tkachuk and Charlie McAvoy being alternate captains.

• Canada named Sidney Crosby as their captain, with Connor McDavid and Cale Makar serving as alternate captains. Crosby centered a line with Mark Stone and Mitch Marner during their first practice. Head coach Jon Cooper had Macklin Celebrini and McDavid on the same line with Tom Wilson.

• Finland named Mikael Granlund captain, with Sebastian Aho and Mikko Rantanen serving as alternates. Gabriel Landeskog will captain Sweden, and he will be joined by Victor Hedman and Erik Karlsson in the leadership group. Czechia named Roman Cervenka as their captain and David Pastrnak and Radko Gudas as alternates.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Feb. 9: Bert Corbeau, Dit Clapper, Andre Savard, Chris Nilan, Ed Hospodar, Neil Sheehy, Nigel Dawes, Christian Folin, Dylan Cozens, Hendrix Lapierre, Brandt Clarke, Tom Wilander, and Braeden Cootes.