Morning Chirps: Report of a new alternative jersey, Pridham stays hot

Will the Chicago Blackhawks have a new alternate jersey for the upcoming season? One report says so. Plus, the Carolina Hurricanes stay undefeated on the road and in overtime during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Montreal Canadiens are a good model for the Blackhawks. They have some dynamic players that don’t fit the traditional “big” player mold. They play a fast-paced style of hockey that the Blackhawks want to emulate. However, their path to success was different from how Kyle Davidson is trying to build his team.

• According to Icethetics, the NHL will have a Hometown Remix jersey next season, similar to MLB's City Connect jerseys and the NBA's City Edition uniforms. All 32 teams will have an alternate jersey for the 2026-27 season. They are reporting that the Blackhawks will have a green alternate jersey next season. I’ll reserve judgment until I see them on the ice, but I’d rather see them have a jersey with the colors of the Chicago flag. I don’t think the black jerseys are going anywhere either, so the Blackhawks could have four different jerseys next season.

• Matthew Tkachuk had two goals and four points to lead Team USA to a 7-2 victory over Hungary on Monday. All four Blackhawks were dressed, as Drew Commesso served as the backup goaltender. None of the three skaters factored into the scoring. Oliver Moore had two shots on goal, while Sam Lafferty was a plus-2. Wyatt Kaiser was a minus-1, which is an improvement considering he was a minus-6 in his first two games. Team USA wraps up the preliminary round later today against Austria. They have to win in regulation to qualify for the quarterfinals.

• Jack Pridham is making the Memorial Cup his personal playground. After a goal and an assist in their opening win, he scored two more goals in Monday’s 6-2 win over the Everett Silvertips. A win tonight over the Chicoutimi Saguenéens puts them right into the championship game on Sunday.

• On this date in 1966, Bobby Hull was awarded the Hart Trophy for being the league’s most valuable player. He won his second straight Hart Trophy by scoring 54 goals and 97 points in 65 games.

• In 1987, Bob Murdoch was named the 27th head coach in Blackhawks history. He went 30-41-9 and lost in the first round to the St. Louis Blues in his only season. He was replaced by Mike Keenan the following offseason.

• In 1992, the Pittsburgh Penguins hosted Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, with the Blackhawks riding an NHL-record 11-game winning streak. They looked like they were well on their way to a 12th win, building a 4-1 lead midway through the game. Chris Chelios, Michel Goulet, and Dirk Graham scored in the first period before Brent Sutter scored in the second stanza. Rick Tocchet began the comeback with a late second-period goal, which was followed by a Mario Lemieux goal 59 seconds later. Jaromir Jagr tied the game with 4:55 left in regulation. Blackhawks defenseman Steve Smith took a costly hooking penalty at 19:42 because Lemieux scored the game-winning goal five seconds later.

• In 2014, the Los Angeles Kings went up 3-1 in the Western Conference Final by beating the Blackhawks 5-2. The Kings scored three goals in a seven-minute stretch of the first period to take control. They had a 4-0 advantage before Brandon Saad and Bryan Bickell scored for the Blackhawks.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, May 26: Ralph Nattrass, Lorne Ferguson, and Chris Clifford.

NHL Chirps

• The Carolina Hurricanes took a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final by beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in overtime. In what has been the theme of the series, the Hurricanes scored first, with Shayne Gostisbehere netting his first goal of the playoffs just over eight minutes in. Mike Matheson tied the game later in the open frame, but Taylor Hall answered less than a minute later to reclaim the lead for the visitors. Lane Hutson’s early second-period power-play goal was the final goal of regulation. Noah Dobson looked like he gave the Canadiens a 3-2 lead at 8:28 of the third period, but Rod Brind’Amour challenged the play for being offside. After a review, it was determined that Cole Caufield was offside, so the goal was taken off the board. Moments after the refs refused to call the Canadiens for too many men on the ice, Andrei Svechnikov’s shot got through heavy traffic and beat Jakub Dobes for the win. The Hurricanes have won seven overtime playoff games in a row, and are 5-0 this postseason. The Canadiens were held to only 12 shots on goal and have been outshot 92-46 in the series so far.

• The Colorado Avalanche have their backs against the wall, down 3-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final after going 8-1 through the first two rounds. To make matters worse, Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin are both dealing with upper-body injuries. Per Sportsnet’s Eric Francis, there is no definitive update on either player’s status.

• The Toronto Maple Leafs revealed that Max Domi underwent surgery to deal with an issue he played through during the season. He will be out indefinitely due to “complications arising from the procedure.” The Leafs will re-evaluate him at the start of training camp.

• Speaking of former Blackhawks, Aku Raty signed a one-year, $850,000 contract with the Edmonton Oilers. The pick the Arizona Coyotes used to draft Raty in 2019 belonged to the Blackhawks for a short time, acquired in the Jan Rutta trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning, before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Olli Määttä. He was physically part of the organization in 2025 when he was acquired from the Utah Hockey Club with Victor Söderström and Shea Weber’s contract. After finishing out the 2024-25 season with the Rockford IceHogs, he spent last season with the Finnish Liiga’s Kärpät.

• Elliotte Friedman had an interesting thought on the Nashville Predators’ general manager search. He feels that, since the search is taking so long, they are waiting to speak with someone who is still in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He says that person could be Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland. Who knows if they would even get permission to talk to him? They were denied permission to talk to Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky earlier this season. Listen, Nashville is an awesome city, but why would MacFarland or Tulsky leave two of the best teams in the league to take the Predators’ job?

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, May 26: Pat Riggin, Steven Rice, P.J. Stock, Jimmy Vesey, Josh Leivo, Mathew Barzal, Logan Stanley, Vladislav Kolyachonok, and Victor Mancini.

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