Morning Chirps: West throws another TD, Fleury to play one last time

Chicago Blackhawks hockey is back! Their rookie camp squad will play its first of two games at the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase tonight. I’ll have some final updates from today’s morning skate, so keep your eyes open for that! Enjoy your Saturday Morning Chirps!

Blackhawks Chirps

• Connor Murphy is heading into the final year of his contract and will be the veteran leader of a very young defensive corps. Todd Welter has five simple expectations for Murphy heading into the new season.

• Scott Powers of The Athletic has an in-depth look at the development plan for Anton Frondell, who starts his Swedish Hockey League season tonight.

• Speaking of Powers, he’s up in Minnesota covering the Tom Kurvers Showcase Prospect. He got up there a day early to take in Mason West’s football game for Edina.

• Brooke LoFurno, my former colleague at The Hockey Writers and a good friend, shared her thoughts on the messaging at this week’s rookie camp. Be sure you’re following her for the upcoming season.

• The prospects experts over at The Athletic held a draft of U23 players from across the league. They selected three different Blackhawks. I won’t spoil it for them, but this is a fun read.

• On this date in 1984, Team Canada beat the Soviet Union 3-2 in overtime to advance to the finals of the Canada Cup. Blackhawks defenseman Doug Wilson scored the game-tying goal off a feed from Wayne Gretzky late in regulation. Mike Bossy deflected a Paul Coffey shot into the net for the game-winning tally in overtime.

• In 1992, the Blackhawks beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in their second of two exhibition games in London, England. A shootout decided the game, something that didn’t become a regular occurrence in the NHL until 2005.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Sept. 13: Art Lesieur, Emile Francis, Igor Kravchuk, and Reto Von Arx.

NHL Chirps

• We’ve got a lot of former Blackhawks in our NHL section this morning. Marc-Andre Fleury signed a professional tryout contract (PTO) with the Pittsburgh Penguins so he can retire with the team that drafted him first overall in 2003. He will make one final appearance during the Penguins’ preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sept. 27.

• According to a report by John Hoven, Corey Perry suffered an injury while skating with his Los Angeles Kings teammates on Friday. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman later confirmed the report and said the veteran forward is undergoing further evaluation.

• Former Blackhawks defenseman Calvin de Haan has signed a one-year contract with Rögle BK in the SHL.

• It certainly sounds like Nashville Predators defenseman Nicolas Hague won’t be sending too many Christmas cards to Sin City this year. He told Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he believed he would get a contract extension heading into the postseason. He claims they had a verbal agreement, but instead traded him to make room for Mitch Marner.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Sept. 13: Harold Darragh, Dom Simmons, Ted Drury, Craig Rivet, Jose Theodore, Mark Jankowski, Miles Wood, Adrian Kempe, and Alexandre Texier.