Morning Chirps: Levshunov’s Future, Worst Call in the NHL

The Chicago Blackhawks will hit the ice at the United Center later this morning for practice and to take the team photo. They are preparing to take on the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night. Speaking of the Devils, their head coach addressed his viral criticism, while one of his division rivals got screwed by the guys in striped shirts last night.

Blackhawks Chirps

• In case you missed it yesterday, Pat Maroon’s legacy is being the ultimate teammate.
• Scott Powers of The Athletic pondered whether the Blackhawks are willing to burn the first year of Artyom Levshunov’s entry-level contract.
• Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote about how Connor Bedard can still succeed despite his analytical struggles.
• Frank Servalli was asked on Daily Faceoff about who has more potential, the Blackhawks or the San Jose Sharks. You will probably enjoy his answer.

• Nick Lardis added some new hardware to his trophy case. He won the Jim Mahon Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s top-scoring right winger, scoring 71 goals and 117 points in 65 games. He and the Brantford Bulldogs start the postseason on Friday against the North Bay Battalion.

• On this date in 1962, Bobby Hull became the third player in NHL history to have a 50-goal season, joining Montreal Canadiens legends Maurice Richard and Bernie Geoffrion. A decade later, Hull joined Gordie Howe as the only two players in league history to score 600 goals in their careers.
• On March 25, 2021, Kevin Lankinen recorded a 41-save shutout, becoming the first rookie goaltender in franchise history to blank an opponent with 40 or more saves in a 3-0 win over the Florida Panthers.

NHL Chirps

• The New York Islanders cannot afford to lose any points as they are in the thick of the Eastern Conference Wild Card race. The officials in last night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets took away Kyle Palmieri’s potential game-winning goal with what was arguably the worst call of the season. Russ Macias of New York Islanders Hockey Now got the reaction straight from the locker room.

• The Edmonton Oilers will be without their superstar tandem of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for at least the rest of this week. McDavid suffered a lower-body injury against the Winnipeg Jets last Thursday, while Draisaitl has missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury.
• The Vancouver Canucks beat the Devils 4-3 in a shootout last night and did so without forwards Elias Pettersson and Nils Hoglander. According to Mike Morreale of NHL.com, both players will miss the remaining three games of Vancouver’s six-game road trip after suffering injuries in Saturday’s loss to the New York Rangers. The Canucks enter today three points behind the St. Louis Blues for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
• Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe went viral over the weekend with his criticism of defenseman Jonathan Kovacevic. James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now got Keefe’s explanation for his comments after Monday’s practice when cooler heads prevailed.
• As we saw during Sunday’s 7-4 win, the Philadelphia Flyers have serious goaltending issues. Head coach John Tortorella didn’t sugarcoat the problems during a one-on-one interview with Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Could the Blackhawks offer the Flyers a slightly-used Laurent Brossoit this summer?