Morning Chirps: West makes season debut, more injuries for Wild

The Chicago Blackhawks are back in action tonight. They are at the St. Louis Blues tonight before returning home to host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. We’ll have all your complete game day coverage throughout the day and after the game.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks had the day off yesterday, but we didn’t! Ty Glenn wrote how Wednesday’s 3-0 win over the New York Rangers got the Blackhawks back on track for the remainder of a challenging December.

• Nestor Quixtan stopped by let us know that he thinks the Blackhawks would selfishly be better off if Connor Bedard doesn’t play for Canada at the Olympics.

• Todd Matthews shared a milestone Spencer Knight achieved against the Rangers that has only happened four times in modern Blackhawks history.

• The Rockford IceHogs are hosting the AHL All-Star Classic on February 10-11. On Thursday, the league named Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg as the honorary captains for the weekend. The two Blackhawks alumni will join the participating teams in the locker room and on the benches during the event. They will be recognized for their careers at the annual AHL Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony. Sharp was a 2005 AHL All-Star with the Philadelphia Phantoms, while Versteeg scored 18 goals and 50 points in 84 games for the IceHogs.

• Mason West made his season debut for the Fargo Force in the USHL last night. He had one shot on goal and was a minus-1 in a 5-1 loss to the Sioux City Musketeers.

• On this date in 1971, Bobby Hull became the fifth player in NHL history to score 1,000 career points, with an assist in a 5-3 win over the Minnesota North Stars.

• In 1999, Mike Smith was named Manager of Hockey Operations, basically the general manager. He went on to draft Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Dustin Byfuglien, and Corey Crawford.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Dec. 12: Bill MacKenzie, Mike Karakas, Clint Smith, Doug Jackson, John McKenzie, and Andrew Ladd.

NHL Chirps

• Patrick Kane did not score a goal in the Red Wings’ 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers last night. He is still at 497 career goals coming into Saturday’s game at the United Center.

• Thatcher Demko was activated off injured reserve and made his first start for the Vancouver Canucks last night since Nov. 11.

• Defenseman Charlie McAvoy returned to action faster than expected. He was back in the lineup for the Boston Bruins against the Winnipeg Jets. He’s been out of the lineup since taking a slap shot to the jaw on Nov. 15. He played 24:16 in his first game back, recorded an assist and was a plus-4 in a 6-3 win over the struggling Jets.

• The Minnesota Wild’s 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Monday was a costly one, as both defenseman Jacob Middleton and forward Mats Zuccarello left with injuries. The team placed both players on injured reserve on Thursday and recalled Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Matt Kiersted from the Iowa Wild.

• The New Jersey Devils announced that forward Timo Meier is taking a personal leave of absence to tend to a family health matter. He has 11 goals and 23 points in 30 games this season.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Dec. 12: Eddie Kullman, Ted Kennedy, Billy Smith, Dan Bouchard, Jim Sandlak, Colin White, Austin Czarnik, and Kevin Labanc.