Morning Chirps: Blackhawks roster moves, Predators down a defenseman

The Chicago Blackhawks will be back on the ice this morning as they prepare for back-to-back preseason games over the weekend. We’ve got a jammed-packed batch of Chirps for you today, with roster moves, contract speculation, bold predictions, and injury news.

Blackhawks Chirps

• Even though the team was off yesterday, we were pretty busy here at Blackhawk Up. The Blackhawks made their first roster moves of training camp by sending four prospects back to their junior teams.

• Jim Lynch wrote that despite the poor result in Detroit, the preseason has brought a lot of excitement for the new season.

• Connor Bedard played with Colton Dach and Lukas Reichel in the preseason opener, but Scott Rogust says those aren’t the linemates to expect when the regular season begins.

• Kyle Bokota looks into the recent Frank Nazar and Spencer Knight contracts and how they could impact Bedard’s next deal.

• Speaking of Knight and his contract extension, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times talked to him about why he took a shorter deal.

• Jay Zawaski of CHGO Sports talked to Connor Murphy and Nick Foligno about the no state income tax loophole teams are using to their advantage.

• On this date in 1926, the National Hockey League announced two new franchises would join for the upcoming season. Those two teams became the Blackhawks and the Cougars, who eventually became the Red Wings.

• In 1985, Phil Esposito was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He began his legendary career with the Blackhawks, scoring 74 goals and 174 points in 235 games before a dispute over money led to his trade to the Boston Bruins.

NHL Chirps

• Greg Wyshynski of ESPN gave one bold prediction for each NHL team. His prediction for the Blackhawks will make fans happy if it comes true.

• The Athletic’s Jesse Granger put together a fun list of the best goaltenders to wear every jersey number in NHL history. Ten Blackhawks goaltenders made the list, with four of them making it for a number they wore for another team.

• Granger’s colleague, James Mirtle, examined whether teams will be able to “cheat” with the new postseason salary cap that goes into effect this year. This is a very interesting read, worth the time.

• The Blackhawks will take on the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, and they likely won’t see Milan Lucic. Head coach Jim Montgomery said he is day-to-day with a groin injury. The veteran forward is trying to make a comeback on a professional tryout contract (PTO).

• Nashville Predators defenseman Nicolas Hague will have to wait to make his regular-season debut. He suffered an upper-body injury in Sunday’s preseason game against the Florida Panthers and will be out for 4-6 weeks.

• Here’s a funny story from the Never Offside podcast about San Jose Sharks veteran Tyler Toffoli convincing some of the younger players that goaltender Carey Price was making an on-ice comeback.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Sept. 25: Carol Vadnais, Toni Lydman, Matt Carle, Calle Jarnkrok, Raphael Lavoie, and Connor Zary.