Morning Chirps: Wild Card race tightens up in the West, Devils make a big change

The Chicago Blackhawks are off today after traveling back from San Jose. They will be back at the Blackhawks Ice Center for practice tomorrow before hosting the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks new five-forward power play has become must-watch television. However, it wasn’t enough to earn a victory over the Sharks. Check out my postgame thoughts in case you went to bed early last night.

• Who has the most underrated Blackhawk this season? Justin Lynch says it’s defenseman Wyatt Kaiser, and it’s hard to argue with that.

• As of now, the Blackhawks are going to have a top-four pick in this summer’s NHL Entry Draft. Nestor Quixtan says it’s ok to part with that pick if the right opportunity comes around to help the Blackhawks win now.

• The Ontario Hockey League’s second round begins this week. The Brantford Bulldogs and North Bay Battalion will start their best-of-seven series tomorrow night. On Friday, the Kitchener Rangers will open things up with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and the Windsor Spitfires drop the puck with the Flint Firebirds.

• On this date in 2022, Brian Sutter became the 15th head coach to win 400 games as the Blackhawks beat the Calgary Flames 3-2.

NHL Chirps

• The new trend of firing head coaches and general managers continued Monday as the New Jersey Devils parted ways with team president and general manager Tom Fitzgerald. One name that has already gained some traction is former Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan.

• The Minnesota Wild signed Charlie Stramel to his three-year entry-level contract yesterday. The deal kicks in next season as the young forward broke his ankle during his final collegiate game with Michigan State. The 21st pick of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft had 36 goals and 91 points in his 141 NCAA games. He played his first two seasons at the University of Wisconsin before transferring to Michigan State. Stramel had a major uptick in production this past season with a career-high 19 goals and 44 points.

• The Sharks, Winnipeg Jets, and Los Angeles Kings all won last night. The Nashville Predators earned a point in a shootout loss to the Kings. Los Angeles holds the final wild card spot in the Western Conference with 83 points. They are followed by the Predators with 82, the Sharks with 81, and the Jets with 80. The final nine days of the regular season are going to be quite the ride.

• The Buffalo Sabres beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 to move into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division. Nikita Kucherov scored his 400th career goal in the loss, joining Steven Stamkos (555) as the only players in team history to hit this mark. He is the ninth-fastest active player to join the 400-goal club, doing so in 874 games.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, April 7: Bob Armstrong, Clark Gilles, Radoslav Suchy, Pascal Dupuis, Marcus Sorensen, and Troy Stecher.