Chicago Blackhawks
Morning Chirps: Kevin Korchinski’s An All-Star, Brandon Saad Waived

The Chicago Blackhawks will enjoy an off day after beating the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. They will visit old friend Taylor Hall and the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. The three-game road trip concludes Saturday afternoon at the Florida Panthers as the Blackhawks try to sweep the season series from the reigning Stanley Cup champions.
Blackhawks Chirps
- Connor Bedard and Landon Slaggert were on their game last night, but a pair of veteran leaders are hindering the squad of late. In case you missed it last night, our full postgame recap can be read here.
- Kevin Korchinski was named to the Central Division’s roster for the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic. He’ll join Cole Guttman in Coachella Valley on Feb 2-3. The 2022 first-round pick has two goals and 17 points in 31 AHL games this season.
- The Blackhawks now have five players nominated for the Hobey Baker Award. Four players were nominated when the first list came out last week. Somehow, it snuck past me that Dominic James was added to the list over the weekend. The 2022 sixth-round draft pick has 10 goals and 21 points in 23 games during his senior season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
- On this date in 1995, Jeremy Roenick had a three-point night with two goals and an assist in leading the Blackhawks to a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings. This gave him 500 career points in 430 games.
NHL Chirps
- On Tuesday, the Minnesota Wild got some awful news as they placed superstar Kirill Kaprizov on injured reserve. Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic reported that he will undergo surgery to repair a nagging lower-body injury, believed to be his groin. He expected to need at least four weeks to recover, which is not ideal as the Wild try to hold on to a playoff spot. If there is a positive to this, two weeks of recovery will occur during the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
- Staying in the Central Division, the St. Louis Blues placed Brandon Saad on waivers Tuesday. He has seven goals and 16 points in 43 games this season. His contract has one year left with a $4.5 million salary cap hit and a no-trade clause. General manager Doug Armstrong said Saad will play in the AHL if he clears waivers, which he likely will. And before you ask, no!
- The Vancouver Canucks cannot stay out of the headlines for the wrong reasons these days. The drama between J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson will just not go away. President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford told the Vancouver media on Tuesday that there doesn’t appear to be a way forward with the current roster and the rift between the two. Only the Canucks, man.
- As mentioned earlier, Hall got his first point with the Hurricanes with an assist, as did Mikko Rantanen, which gives us this fun stat.
- Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka racked up hat tricks in the Buffalo Sabres’ 7-2 blowout of the Boston Bruins. They became the first Sabres duo to have a hat trick in the same game since Derek Roy and Drew Stafford on Jan. 18, 2008.