Although the Blackhawks finished 30th in the league in goals allowed this season, Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times cautions that there may not be big changes coming to their back end this summer. He notes that GM Stan Bowman has confidence in his existing group and hopes that head coach Jeremy Colliton will be able to establish some more significant changes to their current strategies, something he wasn’t completely able to do after taking over for Joel Quenneville early in the season. Veterans Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are signed for at least the next four seasons with no-move clauses so there isn’t a lot of flexibility to work with; they will have to rely on both of them to pick up their level of play for next season.
Other notes from around the league:
- Canada has added several players to their team for the upcoming World Championships. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter links) that Maple Leafs center John Tavares, Golden Knights winger, and Penguins goalie Matt Murray have all agreed to participate. Meanwhile, Sportsnet 650’s Rick Dhaliwal adds (Twitter link) that Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher will also be taking part in the tournament which gets underway on May 10th.
- Blue Jackets defenseman Markus Nutivaara resumed skating today for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury back in the second game of their opening round series against Tampa Bay, notes Adam Jardy of the Columbus Post-Dispatch. He ranked fifth in average ice time on the back end in Columbus this season, logging nearly 18 minutes a night. There’s no word on his timetable for a return; the 24-year-old indicated he was unsure if he’d be able to return in this series. Adam Clendening will remain in the lineup in his absence.
who is the golden knights winger joining Canada’s team?
The old “Player-to-be-named-later”…You know that guy…ol’ what’s his name?
Thanks to Dregs, the secret identity is none other than Mark Stone… Mystery solved!
Stan Bowman has confidence in the existing group? What the help was he watching? Anyone can see that the Hawks need to improve defensively if they are going to move up in the standings. I would trade Seabrook and Keith for ANYTHING! WAKE up Stan!