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Morning Chirps: Looking Ahead to Draft, More Seth Jones Chatter, Jets Keep Soaring

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The Chicago Blackhawks return to action tonight, looking to snap their four-game losing streak against the Vegas Golden Knights. We’ll have a full game preview after the lineups are confirmed at morning skate in Sin City.

Blackhawks Chirps

  • Check out our latest Blackhawks Prospects of the Week, as we highlight two college players tearing it up and a recent draft pick prospering in Europe.
  • On Wednesday, a pair of national pundits from The Athletic added more to the Seth Jones trade talks. Pierre LeBrun says if the Blackhawks are to move him, it would require salary retention or taking back a bad contract. This is why waiting until the summer when the salary cap increases makes more sense. Lebrun lists the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers as potential landing spots. Chris Johnston updated his NHL trade board, where he has Jones at No. 3. He reported that the Blackhawks are willing to retain salary, which contradicts what Mark Lazerus claimed earlier in the week. In this scenario, Kyle Davidson needs to do the best for the Blackhawks, not Jones.
  • Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times is already looking ahead to the 2025 NHL Entry Draft and some potential future Blackhawks.
  • Feb. 27 is a busy date in Blackhawks history. In 1977, Stan Mikita became the eighth member of the NHL’s 500-goal club by beating Vancouver Canucks goaltender Cesare Maniago. Denis Savard became only the second Blackhawk to have a 100-point season five years later. He’d finish the year with a new franchise-record of 119 points.
  • On Feb. 27, 2009, the Blackhawks gave away OSHA-certified hard hats to the first 10,000 fans who showed up for the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jonathan Toews scored what appeared to be his third goal of the night in the second period, causing hard hats to start raining down from the seats. However, the goal was disallowed for being knocked in with a high stick. Those who kept their hard hat got to throw them onto the ice in the third period when Toews completed his hat trick for real. Believe it or not, the Blackhawks have never held a hard hat night again.
  • On this date in 2015, the Blackhawks acquired veteran defenseman Kimmo Timonen from the Philadelphia Flyers. He ended his NHL career that June by being handed the Stanley Cup by Toews.

NHL Chirps

  • The New York Rangers placed star defenseman Adam Fox on injured reserve. The former Norris Trophy winner left Tuesday’s game against the New York Islanders with an upper-body injury. Arthur Staple of The Athletic reported that Fox will be out for weeks, but there’s optimism that he’ll return before the regular season ends. The Rangers are two points out of the last Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
  • Roman Josi, another former Norris Trophy winner, was injured on Tuesday after being checked from behind by Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers. Nashville Predators head coach Andrew Brunette gave a very vague update on Wednesday, saying Josi could be “day-to-day, could be week-to-week, could be season-ending, we don’t really know yet.”
  • While the Rangers and Predators have lost their best defenseman, the Islanders are getting their top blueliner back. They activated Noah Dobson off long-term injured reserve, and he will play tonight against the Boston Bruins. They placed Matt Martin on injured reserve and moved Mathew Barzal to LTIR to make enough cap space for Dobson’s return. The Islanders can use the morale boost after head coach Patrick Roy stopped yesterday’s practice to lay into the team.
  • The Winnipeg Jets beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 last to extend their franchise-record winning streak to 11 games. Their latest victory has them atop the NHL with 87 points. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck extended his personal winning streak to eight games, the longest by any netminder in the NHL this season. He hasn’t lost since Jan. 20.

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