Morning Chirps: Vanacker gets the call, big night for West

The Chicago Blackhawks are back in action tonight as they will take on the Detroit Red Wings without their top star. We’ll have a full game preview later today and a breakdown of the game after the scoreboard clock hits zero.

Blackhawks Chirps

• Losing to the St. Louis Blues stinks. Having Connor Bedard get injured as the final horn goes off is downright brutal.

• The Rockford IceHogs had a wild night at the BMO Center as they picked up a huge 5-3 win over the Milwaukee Admirals. Nick Lardis scored a shorthanded goal to open the scoring. Martin Misiak scored his first professional goal. Sam Rinzel recorded three assists to give him five helpers in two AHL games. Goaltender Laurent Brossoit made 33 saves for his second victory and then scored an empty-net goal to ice the game. What a night!

• Todd Matthews wrote that Bedard is already cementing himself as one of the all-time greats in franchise history just three years into his career.

• Marek Vanacker, the Ontario Hockey League’s leading goal scorer, getting left off Canada’s World Junior Championship roster was puzzling. Michael Misa, who was the OHL leading goal scorer last season and was left off the roster, is dealing with a minor injury and will likely remain in San Jose. Because of this, Vanacker was invited to Team Canada’s training camp and will have a good shot at making the squad.

• In USHL action, the Fargo Force beat the Sioux Falls Stampede 4-0. Mason West factored in three of the goals by scoring two of them and assisting on another. Not bad for just his second hockey game of the season.

• On this date in 2015, Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 26 games with an assist in the Blackhawks’ 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks. The helper gave him the longest point streak by a U.S.-born player in NHL history.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Dec 13: Moe Roberts, Rudy Ahlin, and Doug Mohns.

NHL Chirps

• About 15 minutes before puck drop last night, the Minnesota Wild pulled off a shocking trade that nobody saw coming. They acquired superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks for forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren, defenseman Zeev Buium, and a 2026 first-round draft pick. That is a really great return for the Canucks, but trading the best defensemen in team history and your captain in the prime of your career is not a great look. Our FanSided colleagues were all over the trade. Josh Hill had the Minnesota perspective at Puck Gone Wild, while Robert Tamma had the reaction from Vancouver on The Canucks Way.

• The Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins made a big trade earlier in the day. The Oilers traded goaltender Stuart Skinner, defenseman Brett Kulak, and a 2029 second-round draft pick for netminder Tristan Jarry and Samuel Poulin. So, Stan Bowman traded an average goaltender on an expiring contract, with a serviceable defenseman and a high draft pick, for an average goaltender with two more years left on his deal. I don’t think Jarry is that big an improvement over Skinner to be giving up other assets to get him, with no salary retention in return. Once again, FanSided was all over the trade, as Gordon Munro has the scoop out of Edmonton on Oil on Whyte.

• Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman will undergo elbow surgery next week to clean up an injury that has been bothering him much of the season. He’s expected to miss about six weeks and should be good to go in time to play for Sweden at the Olympics.

• Speaking of the Olympics, here’s how construction is going for the hockey arena in Milan. The games start in 55 days….not great.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Dec. 13: Bob Gainey, Sergei Fedorov, Bates Battaglia, Dan Hamhuis, Kevin Klein, Vladimir Tarasenko, Blake Lizotte, Mads Sogaard, and Ryker Evans.