Today’s News Clips May 2, 2019

ChicagoBlackhawks.com BLOG: Strome to play for Canada at Worlds

By Chris Wescott May 1, 2019

Blackhawks forward was named to Team Canada's roster for the 2019 IIHF World Championship, which takes place May 10-26 in Kosice and Bratislava, .

Strome had a breakout 2018-19 season after arriving in Chicago via trade with Arizona. In 58 games with the Blackhawks, Strome compiled 17 goals and 34 assists for 51 total points.

The last time Strome represented Canada, he wore the "C" at the World Juniors Championships in 2016-17.

Strome joins a growing list of Blackhawks players who will represent their home countries in the tournament. and Alex DeBrincat were confirmed for Team USA, Erik Gustafsson and Marcus Kruger were named to Team Sweden, Henri Jokiharju and Kevin Lankinen are on Finland's preliminary roster, Philipp Kurashev intends to play for Switzerland, Dominik Kahun is with Germany, and Artem Anisimov was announced as a member of Team Russia.

NBCSportsChicago.com Denis Savard confident Blackhawks will make the playoffs next season

By Charlie Roumeliotis May 1, 2019

The Blackhawks are going through a transition phase for the first time in the era. The organization isn’t used to this.

The calendar flipped to May on Wednesday and the Blackhawks aren’t one of the final eight teams playing in the Playoffs. They’ve become so accustomed to being one of the 16 teams in the dance and it hasn’t happened for two consecutive seasons now.

But Blackhawks legend and team ambassador Denis Savard believes that won’t be the case next season. And he’s confident in that.

"I'm going to tell you this: We're going to make the playoffs next year," Savard told NBC Sports Chicago’s Pat Boyle on the latest edition of Chevy Drives. "I'm looking at the cameras: We will. I'll tell you why: We're a much, much better team defensively and we played the right way, I believe the last 30 games. It started to sink into us, 'hey you, know what, Jeremy, good sell by you because they're buying into your stuff cause we have to.' And I think. Not I think, I know we will be in the playoffs."

Savard knows what it’s like to be a rookie NHL head coach for an Original Six franchise. After all, he was in Jeremy Colliton’s shoes when Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were rookies. So if there’s anyone that can relate to Colliton, it’s Savard.

While the two of them haven’t had too much communication since Colliton took over as head coach of the Blackhawks, Savard can already tell that Colliton is the right man for the job in helping the franchise turn things around.

"Not a lot, but I'll tell you he's a good coach,” Savard said. “Tough to come in the first couple months, wow. First thing I looked at was the special teams, they got better, especially the power play. The kill got better, but not quite as good as the power play. Our team play the last 30 games got better. I mean, way better. So that credit's to him. I think next year coming to camp, having a good start, we're all gonna be hopefully getting in this car, in this Chevy next year saying, 'Savvy, we called it.'"

Chicago Tribune Blackhawks again look to European free agency in search of the next Artemi Panarin or Erik Gustafsson

By Jimmy Greenfield May 1, 2019

The NHL draft won’t take place until late June, and free agency involving players with expiring NHL contracts won’t begin until 10 days after.

That doesn’t mean the Blackhawks won’t be able to add an NHL-ready player this month without the pain of having to trade away players in their organization.

European free agency has been an important part of the Hawks’ strategy over the last decade with the signing of players such as Antti Niemi, Artemi Panarin, Erik Gustafsson and, just last year, Dominik Kahun. This year is no different with the Hawks reportedly hoping to sign 24-year-old Russian forward Ilya Mikheyev and 26-year-old Swedish forward Anton Wedin.

Those names may not be familiar to Hawks fans, but they’re very familiar to Hawks scouts, who have spent the last year monitoring players in the top leagues in Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland and Russia, among others.

Good players are everywhere, and so the Hawks scouts go everywhere. When it’s time to start making offers, the Hawks know who they want.

“There’s no surprises,” Blackhawks European pro scouting director Mats Hallin said. “There’s hard work.”

Hallin, a native of Sweden who won a Stanley Cup with the Islanders in 1983, lives just outside Stockholm and from there he oversees the Hawks’ efforts to find talent throughout the European leagues.

Except for Russia and Switzerland, European countries have agreements with the NHL that allow players to break their contracts if they want to jump to the NHL. Eligible players can be signed until June 15.

The Hawks first noticed Kahun when he began playing for Germany’s national team in the World Championships starting in 2016. The rest of the world took notice last year when Kahun helped lead Germany to a silver medal at the Olympics.

By then, however, the Hawks had begun their recruitment of Kahun, and that early connection paid off. Kahun played in all 82 games for the Hawks this season, scoring 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists).

“Seven, eight years ago there was not that much interest in a guy like (Kahun),” Hallin said. “Now you need the smartness, you need the hockey sense, you need the quickness he has. It worked out good. He’s a good kid too. You go off ice and you see what kind of kid he is. We knew he was a good person.”

Being first to reach out to a player doesn’t always mean winning them over. It isn’t enough to get an NHL contract offer. Players and their agents do their due diligence beforehand to know which team is best suited for them.

“Some players are looking for (if) you have four right-handed right wingers with a right-handed shot,” Hallin said. “Some agents do that. (I tell players) go with your gut feeling a little bit too. What are your feelings for the Blackhawks? The Blackhawks are a very well (-respected) club over here. They know they treat the players, how the management works. A lot of respect for Blackhawks over here. That’s what they should look for.”

One recruiting advantage the Hawks have, according to Hallin, is one they would prefer to not have.

“It’s not like it was five years ago,” Hallin said. “Our team is more open for new guys. Before we had one spot for maybe four or five guys. Now we don’t have the team we had seven years ago. So it’s a little easier to motivate them to sign with us than it was back then.”

Not every European free-agent signee has turned into a productive NHL player for the Hawks. In 2016, they signed defenseman Michal Kempny, goalie Lars Johansson and forward Martin Lundberg. Kempny never established himself with the Hawks before finding success with the Capitals after last year’s trade. Johnanssen and Lundberg returned to Europe after one year in the Hawks organization.

Hawks general manager Stan Bowman is not shy about giving opportunities to European players his scouts believe in. Besides having talent, the players who jump to the NHL are typically well into their 20s and have physically matured. That gives them a leg up on draft picks who are still in their teens and need more seasoning.

“You have to adapt to the league,” Bowman said. “But it’s important to have those guys. You know they’re a little bit older typically so it’s not totally new to them. They’ve played professional hockey in Europe for a couple of years so they have the experience.

“We’re going to continue to look at Europe as a way to find players.”

The Athletic Pronman’s IIHF Under-18 highlights: Who will be the No. 3 pick? Plus Jack Hughes and 2020 Draft outlook

By Corey Pronman May 1, 2019

The IIHF men’s U18 World Championship in Örnsköldsvik and Umeå, Sweden, these past two weeks was the unofficial conclusion of the NHL Draft season, as most prospects of note have now finished their season.

There’s a lot of information that came out of that event, which will inform our coverage of the 2019 NHL Draft over the coming weeks. For now, here were the main bullet points from the tournament.

Third-overall pick: Four weeks ago if I had polled NHL scouts about who would be the No. 3 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, most would have answered winger Vasili Podkolzin of SKA in Russia. That answer changed to a shoulder shrug.

Coming out of the tournament, there is no clear third-best player, but rather a rather large group being considered for such a high draft slot, all of which would be reasonable selections for Chicago.

No prospect has truly grabbed that third-best prospect title. Some teams disagree. Some executives think there is a player who has done that, but the player they name is not universal among sources, adding further evidence of a blob rather than a clear candidate.

There are numerous candidates who would fit for Chicago. I’ll go through their cases to be the pick very briefly here in no order, with much more detail to come in the next few weeks. Presume for this exercise Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko are the first two picks. I would not say that is a 100 percent certainty, but I would be 95 percent confident it happens based on discussions with NHL sources, so we’ll proceed with that hypothetical.

These players are picked because I have at least heard their name mentioned at the very top of the draft by at least one NHL source, not because that is where I have them ranked.

-Vasili Podkolzin: Podkolzin was an impactful player at most international events the past two seasons, except the most recent one. He’s an elite power winger with good but not great performances in a small sample of league play. There’s a lot of skill and physicality in his game but some skating issues, too.

-Kirby Dach: Dach has all the tools you want in a No. 1 center. He had a midseason lull, but was good down the stretch and especially in the playoffs where scouts were impressed by how he played versus a top team in Prince Albert. Big men with his skill, feet and IQ are hard to find, but he has consistency issues. He missed the U18 tournament due to injury.

-Dylan Cozens: Cozens’ U18 tournament was good not amazing, but he’s been a top player at other events and was great in the WHL. He’s a big center with a ton of speed and power elements. Questions emerged over the season as to whether his puck game is elite enough to be the guy at No. 3, but he’s still a great prospect.

-: The only player from this group whose season is ongoing as the Giants head to the WHL finals. He’s a dynamic skater and puck-mover who scored a ridiculous amount for a U18 defenseman and plays heavy minutes. Some scouts question if his hockey IQ is elite enough to be the third pick; others believe he could be the guy.

-Alex Turcotte: Turcotte was simply awesome when he was playing this season, but he didn’t play much. Multiple injuries and illness sidelined him for lengthy stretches, creating a sample size issue on his viewings. He showed a ton of speed, skill and grit when he did play and showed he deserves to be in the conversation for the third pick.

-Trevor Zegras: Zegras had a great season, becoming a fixture running USA’s first power play and filling in as the main playmaker when Jack Hughes wasn’t with the team. Zegras is an elite passer who might lack the size or pace of guys like Cozens and Turcotte but can make plays that almost nobody else in the crop can make.

-: Boldy was a player who emerged over his two years at the USNTDP. He’s a big winger with a ton of skill and hockey sense. His U18s were also great, minus a poor game in the semifinals. Some scouts think his size and skill combination make him a consideration at this slot.

-Peyton Krebs: Since the summer at the , Krebs hasn’t had much to work with on a line. Moving from mediocre at best CHL talents as linemates to Cozens and Alex Newhook allowed Krebs to have the puck a lot more. “When you add [Krebs] with those two players, it shows how good a player he is, how well he distributes the puck,” said Canada coach Brett Gibson. Krebs may not be the guy at the No. 3 pick, but his U18 tournament along with his pace and IQ at least made him a plausible pick.

-Philip Broberg: Broberg was one of the best defensemen at the U18s, reminding people how good he can look versus his age group. He was up and down versus men in the Allsvenskan, but he’s got elite feet and enough offense to be intriguing; it just might not be enough for third overall.

-Alex Newhook: Newhook was cut from Canada’s U18 camp in the summer for the Hlinka Gretzky and was good but not amazing at the World Jr. A Challenge. It was thus good to see him as a top player for Canada at the U18’s and one of the better playmakers in the tournament. He might not be worthy of third overall, but his play in the BCHL and 18’s at least got some scouts excited. He’s a dynamic skater and passer.

-Cole Caufield: Caufield was my vote for MVP of the tournament, an honor he did eventually win. He scored 14 goals, moving his season total to 72. He scored them in several different ways. Snipe jobs, hard plays to the net and breakaways. Caufield has had doubters in the industry all season, myself included in terms of the top 10 range, but he’s done too many good things lately. A six- game, a 14-goal tournament, so much skill and hockey sense, and a special shot that were all on display in Sweden made him a candidate with the very best in the draft crop. Talking to teams around the tournament, several scouts felt the 5-foot-7 winger was a candidate to be a top-five pick, with others feeling he’s more in the 6-10 range.

-Jack Hughes: Caufield was my U18s MVP vote, but Hughes was a very deserving candidate and could have been the first back-to-back MVP in tournament history. For the most part, it was the best of Hughes. His elite skating was on display consistently. He was buzzing around the neutral and offensive zones, making plays with his skill and vision. Sometimes he’d cough up pucks in a bad spot (such as during one goal against in the semifinal) but he hustled as hard as possible to get it back. Hughes is going to the World Championships, but if this was his closing argument for the No. 1 overall pick, it would have been a solid case.

2020 NHL Draft: The U18s is typically a tournament about the upcoming draft class and a showcase, in this situation, for the 2001 birth class. The tournament is also usually a foreshadowing of the following draft class and what it has to offer.

For example, in the previous U18’s, we saw Hughes, Turcotte, Caufield, , Byram, Raphael Lavoie, Podkolzin, Cam York and Kaapo Kakko; not to mention 2020 eligible Alexis Lafreniere was a top player for Canada.

At this tournament, we saw Lucas Raymond and Alexander Holtz, both U17 players, be key contributors for Sweden on its route to the gold medal game. Raymond was fantastic, scoring a hat trick in the gold medal game and making the case he should at least be in the conversation with Lafreniere for the top prospect in next year’s class. Both Raymond and Holtz are very skilled and smart winger with some differences in their games.

“Raymond’s got smoother dangles, I’ve got a harder shot. We complement each other very well,” said Holtz.

Compared to past recent U18s, the future draft class excitement was not as riveting this season. This reflects a mood among some scouts that the 2020 draft class is not all that exciting right now, with the major caveat that a lot will change in the next 12 months, as it always does.

A few 2020 players did pop, though. Late 2001 defenseman Braden Schneider was one of Canada’s best players and was much more impressive than at the Hlinka. He’s a great skater who plays hard and, despite not having a ton of offensive skill, he moved the puck well. Connor Zary for Canada was also very impressive. He showed a ton of skill and played hard. His feet didn’t overly impress but they looked OK. Both players will be very intriguing to follow next season.

Anton Lundell was very good for Finland. He’s got great vision/IQ and is reliable to push the play in the right direction. He’s got a ton of hype for what he’s done at the world juniors/ at his age, but questions remain as to whether he has enough speed/skill to be an impact NHL forward.

Russia had several 2020 candidates that intrigued. Forwards Rodion Amirov and Marat Khusnutdinov, and defenseman Skahir Mukhamadullin all showed well for Russia. Amirov was one of its best players on the top line, showing good speed, skill and compete. The most notable 2020 performance for Russia though came from its goalie.

The next great goalie prospect: The main reason one of the best USNTDP groups failed to advance to the gold medal game was the play of Yaroslav Askarov in the Russian net. The 2002 born goaltender was deservedly named best goaltender in the tournament and his semifinal performance was largely why. He’s been impressive all season. His U18 coach Vladimir Filatov called Askarov the best goalie in Russian junior hockey in December, although Filatov was more guarded talking about Askarov prior to the start of this tournament. It is very rare to find a goaltender with Askarov’s combination of a 6-foot-3 frame, elite athleticism and elite anticipation/sense. If he stays on his current development track, he will be very highly touted this time next season, with the potential to be a first-round pick – even as a goaltender playing in Russia.

It’s been another great season, and all that’s left is to try and put the pieces of the puzzle together. Stay tuned for the draft rankings and more previews of the 2019 NHL Draft.