Morning Chirps: Possible Blackhawks Olympian, Ullmark speaks out

The Chicago Blackhawks will hit the practice ice this morning before heading to the airport. They will prepare for tomorrow night’s road game against the Carolina Hurricanes. We’ll see if Frank Nazar is ready to return to the lineup and if we have a Teuvo Teravainen sighting.

Blackhawks Chirps

• Could a recent run of injuries to Swedish hockey players land the Blackhawks another representative at the Winter Olympics? William Nylander, Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Karlsson, Leo Carlsson, Joel Eriksson Ek, Victor Hedman, and Jonas Brodin are all dealing with injuries and could have Sweden looking for replacements for next month’s tournament. According to a report out of Sweden, Carlsson’s injury is serious enough to keep him out of the tournament. Depending on how many of the injured forwards are forced to skip the Winter Games, that could open the door for Blackhawks forward Andre Burakovsky to get the invite. He’s played for Sweden at the 2013 World Junior Championship and the 2015 and 2024 World Championships. Mikael Backlund (Calgary Flames), William Eklund (San Jose Sharks), and Marcus Johansson (Minnesota Wild) are other top candidates to be an injury replacement.

• Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers of The Athletic spoke to Connor Bedard in the wake of Jonathan Toews’ return to Chicago. He had some interesting comments about the possibility of becoming the Blackhawks captain one day. Many feel it’s not a matter of if he gets the “C” on his sweater, but rather when.

• On this date, 1981, Tony Esposito set a team record by winning his eighth straight game in a 4-2 victory against the Montreal Canadiens.

• In 1999, Jocelyn Thubault faced his former team, the Canadiens, for the first time since they traded him to the Blackhawks. He made 33 saves to earn his 10th career shutout in a 3-0 win.

• Two years later, the Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins made history by playing the first game in NHL history with a European-born head coach behind each bench. Ivan Hlinka’s Penguins beat Alpo Suhonen’s Blackhawks 4-0 behind goaltender Garth Snow’s 12th career shutout.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Jan 21: Ulf Dahlen, Andre Zyuzin, Burke Henry, Andreas Englund, and Kirby Dach.

NHL Chirps

• Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark spoke for the first time since taking a personal leave of absence. As an advocate for mental health awareness, he gave an important interview with TSN’s Claire Hanna. Ullmark addressed his leave of absence and personal mental health, as well as the false rumors that started to explain his departure from the team.

• The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 to win their 14th game in a row. The win came at a price, as forward and Canadian Olympian Anthony Cerelli left with an undisclosed injury after scoring a goal and recording an assist. Head coach Jon Cooper did not have any details of his condition after the game. The Lightning’s next game will be at the United Center on Friday.

• The state of Florida will host his second outdoor game of the season when the Lightning play the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 1. The league has started the transformation from the football home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Stadium Series hockey rink. The construction will include a climate-controlled, 34-foot-high, 125-foot-wide, and 240-foot-long state-of-the-art tent that will ensure the ice is in good game condition.

• According to Jeff Marek, the American Hockey League will announce a new five-year collective bargaining agreement later today.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Jan. 21: Georges Vezina, Moe Mantha, Brian Bradley, Doug Weight, Dany Heatley, Ryan Suter, Jonathan Quick, Darren Helm, Brayden McNabb, Josh Brown, K’Andre Miller, Calum Ritchie, and Ryan Leonard.