Morning Chirps: Caps make another big move, Preds and Avs trade partners again

Wednesday was another busy day across the National Hockey League, including the top free agent forward coming off the board with a sign-and-trade deal. Let’s get Chirping!

Blackhawks Chirps

• Our Ryan McGregor is making a habit of talking to Connor Bedard during his offseason training in Vancouver. In their most recent chat, Bedard spoke about becoming the next captain of the Blackhawks.

• We’ve been all over the Bowen Byram trade since it broke on Tuesday night. Nestor Quixtan says the Blackhawks’ rebuild took a major step forward with the deal.

• Justin Lynch says the trade shows that Kyle Davidson is becoming more aggressive than what we’ve in the past.

• Jay Zawaski, Mario Tirabasi, and I had additional coverage, including speaking with Joe Yerdon from Noted Hockey and hearing from Byram and Davidson.

• In 1979, the Blackhawks received the Quebec Nordiques first-round pick after agreeing not to reclaim Real Cloutier as he re-entered the league. Less than a year later, they used that pick to select future Hall of Famer Denis Savard.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, June 25: Ernie Dickens, Ken Hodge, Greg Millen, Doug Gilmour, Sebastian Caron, Jordan Oesterle, Landon Slaggert, and Sam Rinzel.

NHL Chirps

• The Washington Capitals have made some major upgrades to their roster. After acquiring Jordan Kyrou on Tuesday, they added Alex Tuch on Wednesday. They sent a 2027 third-round pick to the Buffalo Sabres for Tuch, who signed an eight-year, $84 million contract before the trade.

• After losing Byram and Tuch in less than 24 hours, the Sabres signed Zach Benson to a seven-year, $52.5 million contract extension. He had a career-high 13 goals and 43 points in 65 regular-season games. He really stood out in the playoffs with five goals and nine points in 13 games.

• Chris McFarland is trying to bring all his former Colorado Avalanche players to the Nashville Predators. Last week, he acquired Ross Colton, and yesterday, he added Jack Drury. He sent Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L’Heureux to the Avalanche for Drury, Chase Bradley, and a 2029 third-round pick.

• Darren Dreger reported that Morgan Rielly has given the Toronto Maple Leafs a list of four Western Conference teams that he would accept a trade to. You’d have to imagine that the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks are on that list.

• Dreger later said that the Carolina Hurricanes have included young defenseman Alexander Nikishin in trade negotiations. He added that they are looking to see if a potential return could be compared to what a long-term extension may look like.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, June 25:  Dave Trottier, Joe Pateson, Brian Hayward, Robert Reichel, Rene Corbet, Glen Metropolit, Jaden Shwartz, Mikhail Sergachev, Brandon Bussi, Alexey Toropchenko, Pyotr Kochetkov, and Philip Broberg.

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