Morning Chirps: Marcus Kruger Calls it a Career, Another Goaltending Prospect Added

The Chicago Blackhawks will have their exit interviews this morning, and we’ll hear from numerous players, interim head coach Anders Sorensen, and general manager Kyle Davidson. The Rockford IceHogs started their final week of the regular season with a loss. And we have our 16-team field set for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks reassigned defensemen Kevin Korchinski and Artyom Levshunov to the IceHogs on Wednesday morning. They’ll play in at least two Calder Cup Playoff games this spring. Colton Dach, who is eligible for the AHL postseason, was not sent down. This is an indication that he is being shut down with the elbow injury he suffered on March 20.
• Gail Kauchak of The Hockey Writers gives us her 10 Thoughts on the 2024-25 season.
• In this fun read, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times broke down 13 interesting stats from the Blackhawks’ season.
• Former Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger played in his final game in Sweden and got quite the amazing send-off!

• The Kitchener Rangers kept their season alive with a 3-0 Game 4 victory over the Windsor Spitfires. Jack Pridham had no points for the Rangers but did have four shots on goal. AJ Spellacy missed his third straight game for Windsor, who still lead the second-round series 3-1.

IceHogs Chirps

• Before they took the ice on Wednesday, the IceHogs signed Western Michigan goaltender Cameron Rowe to an amateur tryout contract (ATO). The 23-year-old netminder finished his college career by winning the National Championship. In 123 NCAA games with Western Michigan and the University of Wisconsin, Rowe went 69-42-3 with a .907 save percentage, 2.52 goals-against average, and eight shutouts.

• On the ice, Rockford lost 2-1 to the Grand Rapids Griffins. Paul Ludwinski scored the lone goal with assists from Taige Harding and Jalen Luypen. Ludwinski has been coming on of late with two goals and four points in his last seven games. Korchinski and Levshunov were not in the lineup. These two teams will meet again in Rockford on Friday, before the IceHogs play their regular-season finale against the Chicago Wolves in Rosemont.

NHL Chirps

• The Montreal Canadiens clinched the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2. They will play the top-seeded Washington Capitals in round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
• The Dallas Stars lost 5-1 to the Nashville Predators last night, but suffered a much more significant loss. Jason Robertson left the game with a lower-body injury and was seen leaving the Bridgestone Arena wearing a knee brace. Robertson leads Dallas with 35 goals and is second in scoring with 80 points.

• Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid hit the 100-point mark again last night. He became the fourth player in NHL history with at least eight career 100-point seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky (15), Mario Lemieux (10), and Marcel Dionne (8). McDavid is the 13^th player to have at least five consecutive 100-point seasons, and the first since Steve Yzerman in 1992-93.