Prospect Jalen Luypen Traded In The WHL
- After signing his entry-level deal earlier this month, Blackhawks prospect Jalen Luypen is on the move in the WHL. Tri-City announced that they’ve acquired the 20-year-old from Edmonton in a swap that included multiple conditional draft picks that are likely dependent on where the forward plays next season. Chicago could turn Luypen pro with AHL Rockford or send him back to junior for an overage year where he’d try to improve on the 64 points in the 66 games he played last season.
Latest On Chicago Blackhawks Rebuild
After several stunning trades that saw Alex DeBrincat, Brandon Hagel, and Kirby Dach shipped out, decisions to leave Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik unqualified, and recent comments from top players suggesting frustration at the Chicago Blackhawks’ long rebuild plan, it’s tough sledding for fans of the team right now. The front office is actively trying to lose next season to secure a better draft position, which has led to plenty of speculation about the future of franchise icons Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
But there are other veterans on the roster, ones that aren’t so far along in their careers or entrenched in the Blackhawks’ history. What about Connor Murphy and Jake McCabe, two defensemen both still on the good side of 30 and capable enough to help almost any team in the league in a certain role?
They won’t be moved, according to Scott Powers of The Athletic, who answered mailbag questions today on all sorts of Blackhawks-related topics. The two veteran defensemen are both expected to stay with the club for the next few years, partly due to their hefty contracts but also because the team wants some capable NHL veterans in place to insulate their young prospects.
McCabe, 28, signed a four-year, $16MM contract with Chicago last summer that includes a seven-team no-trade clause. His $4MM cap hit is easily the largest of his career, and would be a tough contract to extract much surplus value from at this point. Asked to do too much last season, he ended up logging more than 20 minutes a night for the first time since 2017, and was outscored heavily at even-strength. Impressively though, even while receiving absolutely brutal deployment (McCabe rarely started a shift in the offensive zone), he actually did set a career-high in points with 22.
Part of the reason he played so much is because of Murphy’s up-and-down season, which saw him play just 57 games. Now 29, the 6’4″ defenseman is only just now starting the four-year, $17.6MM contract extension that he signed last August, one that includes a ten-team no-trade clause.
Murphy has never played more than 78 games in a single season and now carries a $4.4MM cap hit through 2025-26, making it difficult to trade him even if the Blackhawks wanted to. One thing to note about his deal, however, is that the salary drops to $3.65MM in the final season, and $1MM of that is due in signing bonuses. If there is a time to move him, it might end up being in the summer of 2025 when there is very little actual money owed.
That’s a long time from now though, meaning Murphy and McCabe appear to be stuck with a team that is trying to lose as many games as possible. That’s a tough situation for any veteran to play in, meaning they are still names to keep an eye on as the Chicago rebuild progresses.
Ethan Del Mastro Named To Team Canada Roster For 2022 World Juniors As A Replacement
In Del Mastro, Hunt’s replacement, Canada will be bringing in a large, physical defenseman with some bite and playmaking ability, albeit with less experience. A fourth-round pick in 2021 by the Chicago Blackhawks, Del Mastro debuted for the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads in 2019-20, recording seven assists in 57 games. With the OHL cancelling the 2020-21 season amid COVID-19 concerns and restrictions, Del Mastro himself missed the entire season, but came back better than ever this year, scoring seven goals to go with 41 assists, a plus-34 rating and 91 penalty minutes in 68 games. Though losing Hunt is far from ideal, Del Mastro’s addition to the roster gives Canada another quality two-way defenseman, this one with a bit more size added to his game.
Snapshots: Laxdal, Clune, Klinkhammer
The OHL’s Oshawa Generals today named Derek Laxdal the 35th head coach in team history via a press release. Laxdal, 56, had spent the last eight seasons in the Dallas Stars organization. Before he was promoted midseason to the Stars’ NHL bench as an assistant coach in 2019-20, Laxdal was the head coach of the AHL’s Texas Stars from 2014-15 to 2019.
The news means that Dallas will indeed undergo a complete overhaul of their core coaching staff from last season. The organization replaced a pair of other assistants this offseason, hiring Alain Nasreddine and Steve Spott to replace Todd Nelson and John Stevens. For Laxdal, the news marks a return to the CHL after eight years, last serving there as the head coach of the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings from 2010 to 2014. His resume includes an ECHL Kelly Cup win in 2007 and ECHL Coach of the Year award in 2010 as the head coach of the Idaho Steelheads, a pair of WHL championships with the Oil Kings in 2012 and 2014, and a Memorial Cup championship in 2014.
- The AHL’s Toronto Marlies announced via Twitter today that captain and former NHLer Rich Clune has announced his retirement from professional hockey after 16 seasons, moving to a player development role with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Clune hadn’t played in the NHL since 2015-16 saw him play 19 games with the Maple Leafs, but since then, he’d been an alternate captain or captain for the Marlies, providing an important leadership voice and mentoring the Leafs’ prospects. Clune joins Toronto’s player development department headed by Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser.
- Former NHLer Rob Klinkhammer is returning to the Chicago Blackhawks organization as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, per a team release. The news marks Klinkhammer’s retirement after he spent the last six seasons playing in the KHL. Klinkhammer, an undrafted free agent, played for Rockford from 2008-09 through 2011-12 and made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks in the 2010-11 season.
Snapshots: Blackhawks, Barberio, Lappin
With the Chicago Blackhawks announcing their preseason schedule today, NHL hockey will officially be coming to Milwaukee in a couple of months. The Blackhawks’ third and final preseason “home” game will see them host the Minnesota Wild at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, home of the NBA’s Bucks, on October 2.
Milwaukee has been thrown around in many circles in recent years as a potential destination for an NHL team, usually via relocation. The story was first reported by Milwaukee local news reporter Dario Melendez back in May, where he noted that it will be the first NHL action in Milwaukee since the early 1990s. The timing of the game is beneficial to getting fans in seats and generating interest in the game, as teams tend to dress rosters closer to their opening night lines later in the preseason.
- Lausanne HC of the Swiss National League has mutually terminated the contract of defenseman Mark Barberio, an NHL veteran of eight seasons and 272 games. Barberio left for the Swiss league after hitting unrestricted free agency in 2020, where he had a successful first season but a tough second year. Serving as Lausanne’s captain for a season and a half, Barberio played just 14 games with them this year before they loaned him to Ak Bars Kazan (KHL) for six games. Barberio then played five games for Team Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics, his last hockey of the season.
- After signing with Italian club HC Bolzano in the ICEHL, former New Jersey Devils forward Nick Lappin‘s career may be in jeopardy. The team posted on Facebook today that Lappin suffered a severe back injury while training this offseason, forcing him out indefinitely. They note that the severity of the injury has Lappin, unfortunately, considering retirement, ending his first season overseas before it began. Lappin, who joined the Devils as an undrafted free agent from Brown University, played 60 NHL games for them between 2016 and 2019, registering eight points.
Blackhawks Sign Jalen Luypen
August 2nd: The Blackhawks have now made the signing of Luypen official.
August 1st: The Blackhawks have agreed to terms with one of their prospects as John Matisz of The Score reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed forward Jalen Luypen to a three-year, entry-level contract. PuckPedia reports (via Twitter) that the deal will carry an AAV of $925K including signing and performance bonuses.
The 20-year-old was a seventh-round pick by Chicago (216th overall) in 2021 following a pandemic-shortened season that saw him put up more than a point per game with WHL Edmonton. While he didn’t quite get back to that level in 2021-22, Luypen collected 29 goals and 35 assists in 66 games with the Oil Kings, the WHL champions; his 64 points ranked fourth on the team.
Chicago will now have a decision to make with Luypen. He’s eligible to return to Edmonton for his overage season where he’d stand to play a bigger role in the lineup with two of the three scorers that were ahead of him last year now moving on; he’d still burn the first year of his contract if that happened. However, he can also go to the minors with AHL Rockford where he’d have a limited role but could begin making adjustments to adapt to the professional game. Either way, he has an NHL contract under his belt which is a good outcome for someone who originally went undrafted in his first year of eligibility before being snagged by the Blackhawks a year later.
Chicago Blackhawks Add Derek Plante To Coaching Staff
A few days ago, we covered how University of Minnesota-Duluth associate coach Derek Plante was expected to join the Blackhawks’ coaching staff under new head coach Luke Richardson. Today, the move was made official, with the Blackhawks hiring Plante under the title of assistant coach.
This move marks Plante’s return to the Blackhawks organization, as he served as their development coach from 2015-16 through 2019-20, before returning to the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Under Plante’s stewardship, numerous Blackhawks prospects graduated to the NHL, including players such as Alex DeBrincat, Brandon Hagel, and Adam Boqvist.
At Minnesota-Duluth, Plante served as the top assistant on longtime head coach Scott Sandelin‘s staff for the past two years. He also served as an assistant on his staff before his first tenure with the Blackhawks, coaching with them from 2009-10 to 2014-15. Minnesota-Duluth were NCAA tournament champions in 2011, with Plante on staff, and made the Frozen Four in 2021 with him on staff as well.
The addition of Plante to Richardson’s coaching staff lines up well with the Blackhawks organization’s current team direction and overall organizational plan. He has a development-focused background and a wealth of experience in a developmental role. In his prior NHL experience, his chief responsibility was developing the Blackhawks’ young talent and preparing them for the NHL. As an assistant coach, he’ll have quite a bit more to do, but on the rebuilding Blackhawks Plante’s underlying priority will be the same as before: player development.
The Blackhawks are trying to rebuild their organization around a new stable of young talent, and don’t plan on competing for Stanley Cups anytime soon. With his experience as an assistant coach at one of the top NCAA programs and his time as an NHL development coach, Plante is a strong choice for a coaching staff whose number-one immediate priority will likely be player development rather than winning as many games as possible.
Hiring Of Richardson Helped Attract Domi To Chicago
- Max Domi wasted little time signing with the Blackhawks in free agency, inking a one-year, $3MM deal. Choosing to go to a team that has entered an extended rebuild may seem surprising but the 27-year-old told reporters, including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago, that their decision to hire Luke Richardson prompted Domi to tell his agent that Chicago was where he wanted to go with a deal being agreed to just before free agency opened up. Richardson was on the coaching staff with Montreal for Domi’s two seasons with the Canadiens and clearly, the new bench boss made a positive impression.
Blackhawks Expected To Hire Derek Plante As Assistant Coach
Derek Plante’s time away from the Blackhawks is going to be relatively short as Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune reports that Plante is expected to rejoin Chicago as an assistant coach on Luke Richardson’s staff with an official announcement expected next week. Plante has spent the last two seasons as the Associate Coach with Minnesota-Duluth of the NCAA but before that, he spent five years as a Player Development Coach with the Blackhawks. He’ll join former interim head coach Derek King and Kevin Dean as Richardson’s assistants. Plante briefly spent time as a player with Chicago back in 2000 when he was acquired (with Dean) in a trade near the trade deadline.
Latest On Patrick Kane
It’s clear that the veteran leadership in the Chicago Blackhawks dressing room is disappointed in the direction of the franchise the last few months, selling off young, core pieces for future assets. General manager Kyle Davidson has suggested it will be a five-plus year rebuild, something that doesn’t sound appealing to captain Jonathan Toews.
Unlike Toews, who has struggled in recent years to stay healthy and productive, Patrick Kane is still one of the most dynamic offensive players in the league and would likely draw a crowd if made available. While David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period tweets that the Blackhawks have engaged in trade discussions regarding Kane and lists the Dallas Stars as one of the teams with recent interest, Mark Lazerus of The Athletic has thrown cold water on any speculation. Lazerus has been informed by a source that there have been no trade talks so far, though admits that teams are likely “sniffing around” on the superstar forward.
Kane, of course, holds most of the power here, with a full no-movement clause that allows him to dictate who he can be traded to, and when. If he wanted to stay in Chicago for the final year of his current contract, there’s nothing that the Blackhawks could do about it. If he’s willing to move though, it represents another high-priced asset that could allow Davidson to add even more talent to the team down the road.
For many fans in Chicago though, trading Kane (or Toews) is more than just moving out an asset. The first-overall pick in 2007 has spent his entire career with the Blackhawks, winning three Stanley Cup championships, a Calder Trophy, the Hart, Pearson, and Art Ross all in the same year, and a Conn Smythe. He has 1,180 points in 1,107 games and would be a lock for the Hall of Fame even if he retired today.
At 33, he is still very much a dominant presence in the NHL and scored 92 points just this past season. That actually might be part of the reason why the Blackhawks would want to move him in the first place. In a season in which they appear to be tanking for the best odds in the 2023 draft, Kane’s presence could potentially elevate teammates to competitive status and help them win too many games.
So while Toews has been vocal with some of his frustration, Kane remains the player most fans are focused on this offseason. If he gives the okay, there will likely be an arms race to try and acquire him, especially if the Blackhawks are willing to retain half of his remaining contract (and why wouldn’t they, really). Kane carries a cap hit of $10.5MM but is due just $6.9MM this season, with $4MM of that to be paid in signing bonuses.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images