Blackhawks Daily: Gary Bettman Speaks; Panthers Take Game 1

Ahead of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night, Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke to the media and  touched on some very interesting topics. 

For starters, the NHL salary cap is going up to $88 million. Bettman also confirmed that the Four Nations Face-Off tournament is going to take place next winter at TD Garden (Boston) and Bell Centre (Montreal). This is an NHL event where Canada, USA, Finland, and Sweden will compete for the top prize. It sounds like this is going to be appointment television. 

Aside from that, Bettman also talked about future expansion and the statuses of former Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and head coach Joel Quenneville.

It was a solid warmup for Game One of the Stanley Cup Final. Edmonton dominated the entire game in terms of possession, high-danger chances, and shots on goal. However, they lost to Florida 3-0. Florida was opportunistic with their limited chances and Sergei Bobrovsky stood on his head in the goal. 

Game Two of the series will come on Monday night when Florida will host Edmonton again. There is a lot of work to be done in this series and it is going to be a grind for both sides regardless of the result. 

Blackhawks In Case You Missed It

Patrick Kane back to Chicago? Kyle Davidson seems to close the door completely.

Who to pick at #18? How about Michael Hage, who starred for the Chicago Steel and continues to rocket up the draft board?

The Chicago Blackhawks should absolutely consider someone like Berkly Catton in the first round–especially if he falls closer to #18.

The Chicago Blackhawks are looking to build a winning team. They should be going off of the path that Connor McDavid took to the Stanley Cup Final. 

Kyle Davidson has a certain timetable for the Chicago Blackhawks. But there are intervals to bringing Chicago back to success.

The Chicago Blackhawks need to practice patience as they build back to being a contender. This off-season is really important for that.

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