Morning Chirps: Unexpected Maple Leafs coaching candidate, former rival retires

With the Stanley Cup Final having an off day, Sunday was a bit slow on news. However, we got an expected coaching candidate, a retirement, and a record-tying trophy win. Let’s get Chirping!

Blackhawks Chirps

• Kyle Davidson revealed at the Draft Combine that the plan is for Anton Frondell to play center to start the season, giving the Blackhawks a young trio down the middle.

• Sunday was a sad day for Chicago sports fans with the shocking passing of Bulls broadcaster Stacey King at 59. Be sure to check out our friends at Pippen Ain’t Easy for full coverage.

• Get to know draft prospect Viggo Björck a little better with this CHGO Blackhawks Draft Profile from Jay Zawaski and me.

• On this date in 1976, Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. He was joined by fellow inductees Johnny Bower, Bill Quackenbush, Jack Gibson, and Philip Ross

• In 1995, the Blackhawks avoided a sweep by beating the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. They built a 5-0 lead after two periods thanks to two goals from Denis Savard and Joe Murphy, with a single tally by Dirk Graham.

• In 2013, the Blackhawks returned to the Stanley Cup Final by beating the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in double overtime, wrapping up the Western Conference Final in five games. After being suspended for Game 4, Duncan Keith opened the scoring four minutes into the game. From there, Patrick Kane took over, scoring in the first and third periods before ending the series at 11:40 of the second overtime.

• Two years later, the Tampa Bay Lightning took a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final by beating the Blackhawks 3-2 at the United Center. Brad Richards and Brandon Saad found the back of the net for the Blackhawks before Cedric Paquette scored the game-winning goal late in the third period. Tampa goaltender Ben Bishop, who left Game 2 with an injury, made 36 saves for the Lightning’s final win of the season.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, June 8: Bryan Muir, Bryan McCabe, Quintin Lang, Michael Holmqvist, and Anthony Beauvillier.

NHL Chirps

• According to Elliotte Friedman, Peter Laviolette is one of the three candidates to become the next head coach of the Kings. He says it’s down to Laviolette, interim head coach D.J. Smith, and Jay Woodcroft. The Toronto Maple Leafs are believed to have interviewed Laviolette, as well.

• Speaking of the Maple Leafs, Friedman also reported that Joe Pavelski is “on the Maple Leafs’ radar as the team begins the next phase of its interview process.” Sounds like they are trying to take a page out of the Montreal Canadiens playbook when they hired Martin St. Louis. I’m all for new blood behind the bench, but hiring someone with no coaching experience is a huge risk.

• Milan Lucic officially announced his retirement from professional hockey. He scored 233 goals and 586 points in 1,177 NHL games. He will be best remembered for his time with the Boston Bruins, where he won a Stanley Cup in 2011. He also had stops with the Los Angeles Kings, Edmonton Oilers, and Calgary Flames.

• Connor McDavid won the Ted Lindsay Award for being the league’s most outstanding player as voted by the players. He becomes the second five-time winner of the award, joining some guy named Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, June 8: Johnn Gagnon, Thomas Steen, Jim Pavese, Phil Bourque, Rob Ray, Mike Cammalleri, Peter Harrold, Andrej Sekera, Patrick Kaleta, Joel Hanley, Conor Sheary, and Spencer Martin.

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