Today’s News Clips June 7, 2018

Chicago Sun-Times

Patrick Kane, 6 other Blackhawks set to play in summer hockey league

Satchel Price June 6, 2018

Several Blackhawks players will be taking part in a new summer hockey league coming to Chicago in July. The Chicago Pro Hockey League announced its inaugural eight-game exhibition season Wednesday with planned participants including Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, and many others.

Over 80 players from the NHL, AHL and ECHL are expected to be play in the games at MB Ice Arena, the new practice facility that the Hawks opened in January, as well as a large number of top amateurs from top college programs, junior teams and AAA programs.

Kane and DeBrincat are set to play on the same team, continuing their partnership from Team USA’s run at the 2018 World Championships. , Tommy Wingels and will also be teammates again, along with former Hawks forward Brandon Bollig.

“The CPHL is a great opportunity for our Chicago-based players to participate in high-level games to supplement their summer training programs,” said Blackhawks GM as part of the announcement. “I’m thrilled to see so many ’ players involved, and also thrilled that our local hockey fans will be able to visit our new practice facility and see some great summer hockey.”

The first game of the weekly CPHL season will be July 11 and tickets will be a delightfully cheap $5 each. There will also be games on July 18, July 25, Aug. 1, Aug. 8, Aug. 15, and Aug. 22. A championship game will be held Aug. 23. Doors will open at MB Ice Arena for each contest at 5:30 p.m.

Here’s a full list of expected NHL participants for the upcoming CPHL. The rosters are subject to change. For those of you who can’t wait until October to get your Chicago hockey fix, this may be a fun stopgap.

2018 CPHL NHL participants D , Blackhawks D , Blackhawks F Alex DeBrincat, Blackhawks F Brandon Saad, Blackhawks F Patrick Kane, Blackhawks F , Blackhawks F Nick Schmaltz, Blackhawks F Alex Broadhurst, Blue Jackets F Anders Bjork, Bruins F Tommy Wingels, Bruins F Christian Dvorak, Coyotes F Christian Fischer, Coyotes F Nick Lappin, Devils D John Moore, Devils F Connor Carrick, Maple Leafs F Michael Mersch, Kings F Ryan Hartman, Predators D Jake McCabe, Sabres F Ryan Dzingel, Senators D Lou Belpedio, Wild

The Athletic

NHL Big Board: 20 players who could be on the move this summer

Craig Custance June 6, 2018

One GM described the trade action this way: Immediately after the season, there was a ton of talk. Disappointment from a regular season that didn’t end in success motivated action.

Then it all went away. General managers went to the World Championships. They had organizational meetings. Some even went golfing.

Now, it’s picking back up and will only heat up as the draft gets closer.

“There’s certainly a lot of talk out there,” said one GM. “There are some high expectations.”

With those expectations come pressure to improve. Factor in a rising cap and general managers have flexibility they might not have had in the recent years. In theory, it should make things interesting.

“Activity, as far as communication and bouncing ideas off others, is (higher),” said an assistant GM. “Whether it manifests itself any more in getting deals done, I don’t know.”

There’s a lot at play here. Vegas’ success might make owners less patient. Parity is at an all-time high. The availability of big names from the free agent Class of 2019 is another dynamic. And then there’s the Hurricanes. Everyone is talking about Carolina.

Who is on the move?

Let’s start here:

1. Erik Karlsson, – Ottawa nearly dealt Karlsson at the trade deadline, with the Vegas Golden Knights pivoting to a Tomas Tatar deal in the final minutes after falling short of a major blockbuster that was expected to land them Karlsson. There will be no less interest in him during the offseason. There are two schools of thought here: Karlsson had more value at the trade deadline because teams could get a playoff run out of him or he maintains that value now because there will be more teams in the mix. All it takes is one team making a massive offer to get this thing done.

The wild card could be if Karlsson believes that there will be a new ownership group in the picture, especially if it involves Daniel Alfredsson. But at his recent state of the union, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman shot down a possible Senators sale.

“I can tell you for sure that the franchise is not for sale,” Bettman said. “ is committed to the Senators and is passionate about them.”

Even with Bettman’s denial, there are those around the league who question whether or not Melnyk can afford to keep it going. It paints a bleak picture for Karlsson’s relationship with the Senators.

“I’d be shocked if he re-signs with them,” said one NHL source. “What’s the hope? I would think he gets traded at the draft. His value isn’t going up.”

2. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, – There is still hope and even a little optimism in the Coyotes front office that Ekman-Larsson is going to sign an extension. According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, Ekman-Larsson is sitting on an eight-year offer from the Coyotes worth an average of $8.25 million per season. The question becomes how long do the Coyotes wait for the offer to be accepted? According to an NHL source, the Coyotes are eager for an answer in order to formulate a plan if it doesn’t happen.

“They can’t let him walk for nothing,” said a Western Conference executive. Still, of the three prominent 2019 UFA defensemen, this executive saw Karlsson as the more likely trade candidate.

“I think Drew Doughty stays, Ekman-Larsson might stay and Erik Karlsson is gone,” he said.

3. Phil Kessel, – There’s not a better breakdown of where things stand with Kessel and the Penguins than what Josh Yohe already wrote. Read it if you haven’t. This is how it goes with Kessel. He’s going to produce. Teammates are going to love him. He’s going to drive his coach crazy.

There’s certainly debate as to whether the Penguins will actually trade Kessel. One source suggested that a Kessel trade would give a strong indication as to the power Mike Sullivan wields in the organization. Another said it would just be Jim Rutherford being Jim Rutherford.

“Jim is not going to sit around and bring the same team back,” said one source who knows him well.

He suggested that a Kessel trade might even allow the Penguins to take a serious run at John Tavares. I know, the Penguins are pretty set at center. That’s the beauty of having a gunslinger and dealmaker like Rutherford as the GM. You can’t count anything out.

4. Max Pacioretty, – There’s been talk of a possible extension in Montreal lately but one source said that there has been nothing substantial done on that front. The more likely scenario is still a trade. But there’s pressure on Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin to get a big return, so teams making offers will have to make an offer for the 35- scoring Pacioretty and not the 17-goal scoring Pacioretty, or else it’s not getting done.

“He’s not going to be traded for a second-round pick,” said one NHL source. “If he does get traded, it’s a big one for Bergevin.”

5-7. Jeff Skinner, Noah Hanifin and Justin Faulk,

Someone is going to get moved in Carolina. Maybe two players. It could be one of these three. Another source was asked who he thought would go and he mentioned Elias Lindholm and Victor Rask. The only consensus out there is that Carolina is doing SOMETHING. New owner Tom Dundon won’t have it any other way.

“I’d be surprised if (the Hurricanes) don’t make at least a couple deals before the draft,” said an Eastern Conference executive.

The perception is that Ron Francis was moved out because of inaction. If that’s the case, the new management group has very clear marching orders heading into the draft. There’s going to be some action, it’s only a matter of who gets moved out.

8. Ryan O’Reilly, – The Sabres are getting calls on O’Reilly and that’s nothing new. His frustration after another losing season certainly caught the attention of executives outside of Buffalo.

“He sounded defeated,” said a Western Conference executive. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s moved.”

He’s going to generate interest. He has pedigree. Players like playing with him. He’s a strong two-way centerman.

The Sabres certainly don’t want to rush Casey Mittelstadt, so keeping O’Reilly around gives protection to the young centers in the lineup and pushes them down the depth chart a bit. That means it’s not automatic that he’s moved.

“It would have to be the right deal,” said one source.

9. Rasmus Ristolainen, Sabres – He’s another player the Sabres are getting calls on and for good reason. He’s a 23-year-old right-shot defenseman who can play a ton. He’s valuable. The core of the Sabres moving forward is going to be Jack Eichel, Mittelstadt and Rasmus Dahlin, so that in theory makes Ristolainen expendable.

The Sabres are listening, only because they have to considering their place in the standings. There’s an open mind right now in the Buffalo front office. But the reality is the defense needs bolstering and Buffalo has no interest in moving Ristolainen if it’s not getting a comparable player back in return.

10. Jake Muzzin, Los Angeles Kings – When you chat with people about potential destinations for every top goalscorer on the market, the Kings inevitably emerge as a top candidate. Ilya Kovalchuk? Going to the Kings. Pacioretty? Going to the Kings. James van Riemsdyk? Kings. Kessel, too. If they’re going to trade for more goal scoring to play on the top line, there needs to be some ammunition to make the deal and Muzzin could be that guy.

This is nothing new on the Muzzin front. Pierre LeBrun reported back in the fall that the Kings considered a Muzzin deal last summer in an attempt to add scoring. He has two years remaining on a very reasonable contract that averages $4 million per season, making him even more attractive.

11-12. Nino Niederreiter and Matt Dumba,

The Wild are another team of interest this summer. They have a new GM, a mandate to make changes to the roster and players that interest opposing teams looking for upgrades. Any one of Niederreiter, Dumba, Jonas Brodin or Charlie Coyle could be on the move depending on the return.

Minnesota’s lack of right shot forwards could mean that Coyle sticks around, even coming off a disappointing season in which his goal total dropped for the second consecutive season. But he’s being shopped.

On defense, Dumba is the high-risk, high-reward player for teams looking to add a defenseman. Brodin is steady, signed to one of those $4 million AAV long-term defenseman contracts. Nothing wrong there. Dumba needs a new deal and it’s not going to be small.

“They have to be careful, too,” said one NHL executive of the Wild. “Their back end is top heavy. Their five and six defensemen aren’t good and you saw it in the playoffs. They don’t have D coming. I thought Dumba took a step forward last season but Brodin is the safe play.”

13. Philipp Grubauer,

Washington is going to need to clear salary if it wants to keep John Carlson and trading the talented Grubauer is one way to make it happen. He’s coming off another strong season that was in line with his career save percentage of .922 and is ready for a crack at a starting job, something that is preventing.

“He’s getting moved for sure,” said one executive.

A likely destination would be the Islanders, who need to address their goaltending as part of their pitch to keep John Tavares. The Islanders have back-to-back first-round picks and could use one of them in a deal to land Grubauer, similar to the deal that Lou Lamoriello struck with Vancouver to bring Cory Schneider to New Jersey.

14. Vladislav Namestnikov,

This is more of a placeholder for any number of Rangers than it is an indication that Namestnikov gets moved, but the Rangers are certainly listening. They have four forwards who are arbitration eligible — Namestnikov, Kevin Hayes, Jimmy Vesey and Ryan Spooner. One source said he thought it was unlikely the Rangers started next season with all four of those players on their roster.

Another called the Rangers open for business.

“They are open to anything,” said the executive. “I don’t think they’re set on moving one particular guy.”

Namestnikov had just four points in 19 games after being traded to the Rangers. But with back-to-back 20-goal seasons with the Lightning, he’s going to get a big raise this summer.

15. , Canadiens – Montreal would definitely move Galchenyuk, but they might have missed the window to truly maximize his value. There are fewer people around the league confident he can consistently play center than there were earlier in his career. Still, he’s got a 30-goal season on his resume, is just 24 years old and shot a career-low 8.9 percent last season. He’s a good buy-low candidate.

“There’s question marks,” said one source of Galchenyuk. “Is he a guy who scores 30 or 12? Is he coachable? His talent is undeniable.”

16. Andreas Athanasiou, – Athanasiou’s name in trade rumors is nothing new, and the Red Wings aren’t necessarily highly motivated to make a move here. But both sides – the Athanasiou camp and the Red Wings management – aren’t against a deal. There also still seems to be some strain between Athanasiou and the coaching staff.

Athanasiou is arbitration eligible this summer so he’s going to get a raise from the nearly $1.4 million he held out for last offseason. With young forwards Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha also in line for significant salary increases, Detroit may prefer to let another team do Athanasiou’s next deal. And he has a weapon that opposing teams find attractive.

“Love the speed,” said one GM. “Worry a bit about the production.”

17. , Chicago Blackhawks – Chicago is another team of interest this summer. They’ve been connected to everything from something big — Tavares — to something not quite as big — a backup goalie. On July 1, Anisimov’s contract provides GM Stan Bowman more flexibility to make a deal, moving from a full no-trade to protection that requires Anisimov to provide a list of 10 teams in which he’d permit a trade.

So, it’s a possibility, although there’s debate whether or not it’s a great idea for Chicago to move him.

“Second-line centers don’t grow on trees,” said one NHL source.

“Who do they replace him with?” Asked an exec from the West. “He’s on a reasonable contract.”

18. Julius Honka, – The Stars missed the playoffs last year because of a lack of depth up front. Their forward group is top heavy in part because the high-end prospects in the organization are on defense. Honka is ready for regular NHL duty. The Stars also have the talented Miro Heiskanen coming.

GM Jim Nill would love to add a top-six forward to his group, and Honka may be the best currency to make it happen.

19. Nick Jensen, Red Wings – The Red Wings are actively shopping defenseman Xavier Ouellet, who has one year remaining on a contract worth $1.25 million. “He wants a fresh start,” Red Wings GM Ken Holland said last week at the draft combine. That’s not necessarily an easy assignment since Ouellet had trouble cracking the lineup on a Detroit team that wasn’t particularly good.

Trading Jensen would be much easier and there’s definitely interest. He’s a 27-year-old right-shot defenseman who slots into any team’s bottom pair for under $1 million. That’s attractive to both a budget team and teams up against the cap.

The problem is, one source outside Detroit suggested that the Red Wings weren’t too eager to make the move yet. There’s uncertainty as to whether Mike Green is coming back and who the Red Wings will get at the top of the draft. The preference for Detroit would be to wait until training camp to see how things all shake out, but by then, interested teams might have moved on.

20. , – Krug is low on the list mostly because it’s probably a longshot he gets moved. The Bruins would probably prefer to get out from under the contracts of David Backes or David Krejci, but if they’re looking to upgrade or change the look of their team at all, Krug is the most attractive chip.

The Bruins like him but so does everybody else, which makes him an interesting trade option. In a perfect world, there’s a left-shot defenseman coming back with a little more size for the Bruins defense, who can contribute on the PK and upgrade play at even strength. That’s a pretty specific order.

“He had 12 points in 11 playoff games,” said one executive while making the case for Krug. “I think they could move him, but they don’t have to.”

The Athletic

How the Blackhawks and other organizations are introducing hockey to inner-city kids in Chicago

Scott Powers June 6, 2018

Kids are falling all over the ice.

One drops, then another, then another. They all get up and they all fall again. Luckily, they were taught how to stand up from a seated position when they first got on the ice. That lesson is coming in handy.

After the children fall to the ice for the first time, they’re offered helpers to get them around. They all take one. Over time, some of the kids become brave and begin abandoning their skating aids. Most of those kids fall again, but there’s progress each time they get back up.

These children, who are mostly Hispanic, are fourth-graders from Mark Twain Elementary School, a Chicago Public School on the South Side. Nearly everyone on the ice is attempting to skate for the time.

It’s safe to assume most of these children wouldn’t have sought to do this if they weren’t taking part in First Stride, a learn-to-skate program run by the Blackhawks in partnership with Chicago Public Schools. They’re here, though, and most of them are noticeably having fun.

How many of these children will ever skate again? Most probably won’t. For those kids, it’ll always be something they did. For the others who do seek to skate beyond this experience, it could be the starting of something special.

“Ultimately for me, it’s about what they learn about themselves that’s been the most rewarding,” said Blackhawks community liaison Jamal Mayers, a former NHL player. “Can you imagine trying something completely new and different like skating on hard frozen ice when you’re 11 or 12? When you’re 11 and 12, you pretty much know what you’re good at. You’re a little bit more cautious to try new things, so I give these kids a lot of credit.

“To me, I don’t know if I would try something new like that. It’s like saying you never rode horses, let’s go jump on a racehorse. That’s how I kind of equate it. That’s scary. The kids, they love it. They’re having a great time. They’re learning that they can get outside their comfort zone, they can try something new. Most importantly, what I try to impress upon them is they’re going to fall. They’re going to fall. But that’s life. You’re going to get back up and you’re going to be better for it.”

For a lot of CPS students, ice skating and hockey are far from the sports of choice in their neighborhoods. Public sheets of ice are limited in the city, and equipment is costly. Many are never introduced to ice sports for those reasons. Other sports are more accessible and cheaper. It’s as simple as that.

There are organizations and people in Chicago trying to fix that. The Blackhawks are one of them.

For years, the Blackhawks have run a program called G.O.A.L. — Get Out And Learn — which has taken them into CPS schools to introduce children to floor hockey. With the construction of MB Community Ice Arena, which includes two sheets of ice, the Blackhawks have been able to expand what they offer CPS students. They now offer the Future Goals – Hockey Scholar Program, which in partnership with EVERFI, assists children with math and science concepts that apply to hockey, and First Stride, which puts the children on the ice.

Since January, after the opening of MB Ice Arena, the Blackhawks have welcomed 40 CPS schools and more than 6,000 students into the programs. They plan to exceed those numbers over the next school year.

“So the First Stride program is exciting because those same kids who were once introduced to ball hockey in their gym are now getting to go to the MB practice rink and getting on the ice for the first time,” Mayers said. “So that’s the extension, progression for these kids, then eliminating all those obstacles as you can imagine them, just being able to play. So transportation, taken care of. We’re actually picking up these kids and bringing them to the practice facility. Teaching them health and wellness in respect to what they should be eating, what they shouldn’t be eating. And then they’re getting some STEM education as well on the computers.

“That’s how you’re going to get kids engaged and wanting to play the game. Are we going to create the next NHL player? Maybe. You look at other programs that have been in existence a little bit longer. I look at in Harlem in New York. The Rangers started that years ago. They now have kids that started in that program that are playing college hockey.”

The Blackhawks hope kids return to the rink to skate. They even keep tabs on those who might want something beyond just skating.

“First Stride participants can use their program badge to come back to the rink for public skate free of charge, as many times as they want,” Blackhawks senior director of fan development Annie Camins said. “We’ve also invited all participants to dedicated Family Skate events this summer. If we start to see a student who is coming back time and time again and showing that interest in skating, we’re able to guide them toward some of our other initiatives and resources that can help make learning to play hockey more accessible to them. For example, over spring break, we had one student come to public skate four times — and now we’re guiding him to our Little Blackhawks program as well as connecting him to Inner-City Education’s (ICE) hockey program.”

ICE Program

Brad Erickson wanted to help inner-city children who played hockey get better educations. His motivation was that simple when he founded ICE in 2003. He had no large vision.

If you had told him back then his program one day would spend $130,000 in tuition annually to help students, a hockey program would also be created because the non-profit was bringing in too much money, Brent Seabrook’s charity event would raise $200,000 and he’d quit his full-time job so that the program would be his job, he wouldn’t have believed you. “Honestly, it’s beyond anything I could have imagined,” Erickson said. “This has been my full-time job actually for three years, which was never a plan. It was always something, you know, a thing I did for the love for it, something I had a passion for helping low-income, inner-city kids, and to be able to marry that with my passion for hockey, you know, it was perfect for me personally.

“I’ve been fortunate with the people who want to get involved, who joined the board, who have volunteered as coaches, tutors and mentors. All of our scholarship kids get adult mentors assigned to them that they have requirements in meeting with them and so on. None of them was in place or even considered 15 years ago. It was just raise some money and helps some kids get into better schools. We started out with two kids. One of those kids [Darius Mack] who I met when he was 9 years old is 29 years old now and he’s on our board.

“I would never have imagined running a hockey club that has 150 kids. I would never have imagined spending $130,000 on tuition. Every year the program grows, I’m kind of stupefied by it to be honest because it blows me away that so many people are willing to get involved and volunteer their time and donate their money and get behind the cause.”

Erickson first had an idea for the program when he was coaching hockey to kids in Chicago’s West Garfield Park neighborhood.

“I learned about their home lives and backgrounds and broken homes and parents incarcerated or on drugs and deceased and being raised by various relatives,” Erickson said. “I thought at least if they do well in school they can get somewhere. I was kind of new to Chicago. I moved here in ‘96. I started coaching kids out there in ‘98. And so after a couple years, I got to know the kids really well. I thought at least if they did well in school they could get somewhere, then I learned about the schools in their neighborhood. Some great CPS schools, but a lot of the CPS schools in those low-income neighborhoods are underperforming.

“It just kind of drove me nuts that a kid who is good, smart, positive kid, curious, a hard worker, all those things, is lucky to get into college. And if he or she does, they’re going to be so far behind on Day 1 because the schools they come out of they could get straight As, but they’re going to be way behind a kid that grows up in Winnetka through no fault of his own or her own. Done everything they could and are just not ready, not prepared.

“Hockey is obviously a lifelong passion of mine, and I love all the great things it teaches about teamwork and discipline and you can learn on and on, all the great things that it teaches. But I think education is the best way to help the kids long term. Very, very few kids are going to get anywhere with hockey. That was the reason I came up with the idea.”

Erickson funded a few scholarships at first. In time, the program grew and grew and grew.

Seabrook has been a reason for that. Erickson and his program were introduced to Seabrook by Pete Hassen, the Blackhawks marketing vice president and an ICE Program board member. Seabrook was looking for a local charity to raise money for, and he chose Erickson’s.

Like the ICE Program, Seabrook’s charity bowling event has evolved too. The first event was held at a small bowling alley, and a few Blackhawks attended and raised $15,000. Now in its 10th year, the charity event draws all of Seabrook’s teammates and raises more than $200,000.

As the ICE Program began to raise more money than Erickson knew what to do with, they were faced with a challenge.

“Oddly for a non-profit, we ran into a problem after years and years of doing fundraising events, particularly bowling with the Blackhawks, we started raising so much and we weren’t spending enough,” Erickson said. “There’s IRS guidelines on how much you have to spend. You can’t just sit on the money as a non-profit, and we never wanted to, but we weren’t finding enough kids to fit our profile. To be considered for a scholarship you had to play hockey at any level, doesn’t matter if you’re an all-star or a beginner; you have to be financially underprivileged, there’s a sliding scale for that, but we use poverty guidelines as a measuring stick; and you have to not have a good school in your neighborhood. It’s not for the Oak Park kids who can’t afford St. Ignatius because Oak Park has great schools. That’s for kids who literally don’t have quality education available to them. We weren’t finding enough of those kids.

“We finally said let’s create our own hockey club. We’re just finishing our third season. We started out with 40 kids at Riis Park and 40 kids at Cicero for a total of 80. The next year we bumped it up to 120. This year we added MB Ice Arena with the help of the Blackhawks donating ice to use. Now there are 150 kids playing hockey. That feeds the scholarship application pipeline.”

The hockey program puts kids on the ice twice a week. They practice and hold inter-squad scrimmages. They’ve also been able to partner with Chicago Stallions, a youth hockey club, to help kids move to the next level if they’re interested.

“For me, it’s interesting because I don’t care if it’s a white kid, black kid, Asian kid, Hispanic kid, girl, boy, what age, they get on the ice and if they can just learn to push and glide, you see a smile on their face and they like the sensation of gliding and it kind of feels like flying,” Erickson said. “They just get hooked. Then you get a stick and a puck, and it’s just a matter of getting the kids on the ice and getting them exposed to it. It doesn’t matter their race or their age or their gender.”

As for the scholarships, the ICE Program handed out 29 of them this year. They’re spending about $120,000 on education this year.

Hockey on Your Block

Ray Lilja could have folded Hockey on Your Block this past year. The non-profit organization went through some adversity and was dormant for a period.

Lilja had to decide whether he really wanted to keep the organization going or just step away. If he was going to push forward with it, there was work ahead of him. He would be restarting in some ways.

Lilja did some soul searching and realized his organization was too important to him and others just to give it up. “I had this vision, it’s been all of seven years now,” Lilja said. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs and a lot of challenges and obstacles. I’ve sort of made sure this thing continues on regardless of what comes along because the core mission here is to not only grow the game of hockey in Chicago, but it’s very, very important to me that the kids who would benefit the most from it get involved.

“We don’t simply have a program and hope that the right kind of kids show up for it. That’s not going to work to get the ones that would benefit the most. I think what separates us apart is we actively go into the most challenged communities in Chicago and recruit our kids from Englewood, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park. I specifically target these areas and get these kids engaged. That’s the thing I’m most proud of, and that’s why I want to continue on with that. Because even if it means just a few kids are getting an opportunity to basically turn their life around, for a lot of them it was well worth it. That’s what drives me to continue on.”

Hockey on Your Block has hit reset, and there will be differences this time around. But at its core, it will still be the same. Lilja’s goal remains to introduce hockey to Chicago’s inner-city kids for free. Over the past seven years, about 1,100 children have gone through the program. Whether he can open that door for 1,100 more kids or just one more, he’s excited for the next phase.

“The main challenge for us is putting them on the ice for the first time,” Lilja said. “It’s something the kids are excited about. They fall quite a bit the first couple times. We have some great learn-to-skate coaches, figure skating coaches, who are able to get them up and balanced faster than hockey skating coaches. We get them through the learn to skate program in 12 lessons, then they graduate to learn to play. Then they have a stick in their hands, have full equipment on and they’re really excited when they get to that point.

“These little kids put their little helmets on and facemasks, and you can’t tell what nationality they are until they take it off because they’re all covered up with hockey gloves and helmets. It’s just really kind of fun that way. It’s not look at the little black kids. All you see is little kids with helmets on.”

Lilja plans to get his program back on the ice in September. He hopes to have 25-30 kids at first and then recruit more from those previously mentioned neighborhoods. Hockey on Your Block will utilize the Morgan Park Sports Center, McFetridge Sports Center and Johnny’s IceHouse for ice.

Lilja has partnered with Goodcity Chicago to sustain Hockey on Your Block and raise funds. You can donate to Hockey on Your Block by visiting Goodcity Chicago.

“Where we’re at right now is a very good place,” Lilja said. “We’ve located an organization whose specialty is taking a very good cause and helping them structure themselves as a 501c3. They help you get to the point where you’re self-sustainable

“We’re looking to move forward. We got quite a few kids who have attained a certain level of ability on the ice and now they’ve been off the ice for a while. The problem is when you’re off the ice you sort of regress back, you go backwards and have to be trained all over again. We’re hoping to get them back on the ice by September.”

Jamal Mayers

When Jamal Mayers’ NHL career ended, he wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to do.

He was first an analyst on NHL Network. He then hooked up with the Blackhawks again. They discussed potential roles and landed on his current one as community liaison.

Mayers hadn’t ever pictured himself doing what he’s doing, but it’s fit him perfectly.

“I think this just happened organically,” Mayers said. “I’ve always had great talks when I was playing and just hearing my thoughts on the game and where things are going, things kind of grew from there. These were things they were already going to do, but to be a part of it has been so rewarding. It’s my third year doing it.

“The impact we’ve been able to have thanks in large part to Rocky [Wirtz] and his commitment to pushing the needle forward and the organization obviously from John [McDonough] and Jay [Blunk] and Al [MacIsaac] on down, I think they understand there’s a civic duty to give back and it’s not just lip service. It’s exciting for me to be a part of it. I remember when we were conceptually talking about they were going to do G.O.A.L. and eventually we’re going to get them on the ice and now it’s happening. It’s exciting.”

Mayers is so passionate about his job because he believes what they’re doing can have an impact on a child’s life. He can relate to a lot of them and knows what hockey did for him.

“I grew up similarly in , single-parent family,” Mayers said. “The opportunities for hockey are difficult for families.

“I think it helps too that I’m a person of color. I look like them. When I tell them, it wasn’t that easy and I felt the same way at times maybe hockey wasn’t for me. I just pushed that wall. Do whatever you want. I think having that perspective helps. Having people who look like them and have did it helps. There’s a whole group of kids who are African-American and Hispanic that could be huge fans if we teach them about the game and expose them to it.”

Plus, Mayers is having fun with the programs. He gets involved right with the kids.

“There’s a few different pieces involved,” Mayers said. “One of them is called G.O.A.L., which is a team initiative, which we’re going up to 120 CPS schools and we’re getting fourth- through eighth-graders primarily exposed to the ball hockey in their gym, basically taking over their phys-ed class and introducing them to ball hockey, eliminating the ice piece to wet their appetite to what hockey is all about and teaching them basic skills necessary so they can move forward.

“This is like over 100,000 kids this year in this part of the program. It’s mostly Hispanic and African-American kids who have never been exposed to the game, and maybe there’s some trepidation and nervousness at first and then they get into it and an hour in they’re having a blast. They’re sweating, I’m having a great time with them.

“You think of all of these kids and I think hockey is just the vehicle to get their attention, to teach them about themselves and pushing themselves and their boundaries. Hopefully they can take those lessons that they learned, that I learned. I learned so many things about discipline, teamwork, focus, working hard, and all those things I learned you apply to the rest of your life.”

Mayers hopes the program expands enough to where they’re able to put together teams of kids from the city. He envisions hockey becoming more of an option for city kids in the future.

“What happens is, not to take anything away from football, but not many parents that I know, even guys I know that played football in high school and college, would let their kids play football, but they like the physicality of sports, they like the speed,” Mayers said. “To me, it’s just natural that hockey would be that next option. You think about all the amazing Hispanic, African-American athletes and you switch them to hockey. It’s unbelievable. You’re talking about the game’s trending to be faster. You take those attributes that make someone be a great football player or basketball player, it’s speed and athleticism and I think they translate to the ice extremely well.

“I think honestly you can get to the point where you have enough kids who have tried the game, tried skating, the progression to me is then maybe we create our own league, city league for kids, like a house league. What will end up happening is you’ll have outliers. You’ll have kids who are good enough to go try out for an AA team, go try out for an AAA team. You’ll still have that house league feeder system type of thing where kids practice once or twice a week and they’re on their own hockey team.”

The Athletic

‘It’s only right to have it in Chicago, too.’ Pro hockey summer league drops the puck July 11

Scott Powers June 6, 2018

Summertime in Chicago just got a bit better.

Just as it’s been possible in the past to catch NBA talent in summer leagues around Chicago, you’ll now be able to watch NHL talent too. The creation of the Chicago Pro Hockey League (CPHL) was announced earlier this week.

The league will feature Blackhawks and other NHL and pro players over eight weeks beginning July 11 at MB Ice Arena.

“It’s really cool,” said Ryan Hartman, a Chicago-area product and forward. “Obviously you’ve seen other cities doing it. For a couple years now, there’s always been talk among the Chicago guys who live here and are from here that we kind of have enough guys to start it ourselves. Over the last couple years, there’s been so much progress with Chicago players. There’s an opportunity to make it a fun league and competitive league.

“It’ll be cool for kids. If I was a kid in Chicago and I heard there was a summer league of professional hockey players, I would go watch. That would be a cool thing to watch.”

The league will include plenty of recognizable names. Among the Blackhawks listed on rosters are Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad, Alex DeBrincat, Vinnie Hinostroza, Nick Schmaltz, Jordan Oesterle, Anthony Louis and Henri Jokiharju. There are also a number of Chicago-area products including Hartman, Alex Broadhurst (), Connor Carrick (), Christian Dvorak (Arizona Coyotes), Ryan Dzingel (Ottawa Senators), Christian Fischer (Coyotes), John Moore (), Garret Sparks (Maple Leafs) and Tommy Wingels (Boston Bruins). Also participating will be other pros who live in the Chicago area, including Brandon Bollig (Predators), Brandon Pirri (Vegas Golden Knights), Jake McCabe (Buffalo Sabres) and Anders Bjork (Bruins).

“To have a competitive league per se in the summer, you need a lot of good players who are currently living here and played here,” Hartman said. “You can go down the list of guys who are NHL players and AHL players. A lot of talent has come through the city of Chicago. The last few years it’s taken off.”

Hartman said he was being recruited to play on Hinostroza’s team, but he ended up on another team. The rosters were tweeted from the league account Wednesday. You can find them here.

Kane was unsure whether he’d play in the league when asked about it at the World Championship last month, but he has been listed on the overall league roster. He was a fan of the idea. “I played in one in Buffalo,” Kane said. “You’ve heard of them in Minnesota and Boston as well. It’s only right to have it in Chicago, too.”

The league was created by Anders Sorensen, who is a Blackhawks development coach and Chicago Mission coach. Brian Keane, who is the founder of Prodigy Hockey and trains a number of professional players, also assisted.

“Anders came up with the idea and then asked my opinion on it,” Keane said. “He’s basically been the one who has really been driving it. I think it’s a such a great thing. There’s a lot of really good players that have come from here or may reside here and developed somewhere else. It just speaks to how great the city is with so many professional players. It was a natural progression to get the league going when you think about the numbers.”

All games will be open to the public with general admission tickets costing $5. A portion of the ticket sales will be given to a local charity. For more information, visit www.chicagoprohockeyleague.com.

The Athletic

Outliers: Why the NHL still struggles to break the color barrier

Chris Watkins June 6, 2018

It usually started with a passing glance. Maybe after a few minutes, they would linger after their tour group. Finally, assured that no one would overhear them, they pulled me over to the side and asked some variation of the following question:

“Hey man … so how does someone like me get in a place like this?”

I had taken a full-time job at Google after grad school, and if you’re one of the few people of color at the tech giant, you were inevitably involved with the company’s diversity efforts, whether you wanted to be or not. The company would often invite students from underprivileged high schools to come tour the campus, and I was often tapped to help guide the wide-eyed teens through the land of tech excess and overpowered gadgetry.

Oftentimes, I had a “uniform”: V-neck tee, loose fit jeans (maybe slung a bit too low), and a fresh pair of sneakers. The sneakers were key. A pair of Jordans were the beacon, a universal symbol of urban culture that belied the surroundings of Silicon Valley.

I had committed to the “uniform” after my own harrowing experience at an Ivy League recruiting event in high school. I had test scores good enough to get into most any school I applied to, but I was fearful of an elitist environment where no one looked or acted like me. Seeing a large man of color in a three-piece suit, I approached him to assuage my concerns about applying to Harvard. Instead of words of encouragement, the man pompously suggested that Harvard wasn’t for everyone, and “students of certain backgrounds have often struggled to make the transition.”

I was so embarrassed and incensed that I regrettably never applied. Over time, however, the incident strengthened my resolve. If they won’t let me in the front door, I told myself, then I’ll find another way in and prop open the door for others to sneak in behind me. Which brings us to the NHL.

My family didn’t do hockey growing up. It’s possible I caught the occasional Mario Lemieux highlight on SportsCenter, or a cursory viewing of NHL 2Night, but in my house, we worshipped the Holy Trinity: God, Jesus and Michael Jordan. We rarely made it to church on Sunday, but we never ever missed a Bulls game.

Maybe I would have caught on to the game earlier, but due to former owner Bill Wirtz’s penny-pinching ways, the Blackhawks almost never aired on local television. Instead, I was introduced to the sport through video games and the occasional game. I didn’t watch an actual NHL game until I was 20.

Playing hockey itself was out of the question. While my family wasn’t poor, we barely had enough to cover anything more than the bare essentials. Because my birthday fell right after Christmas, my presents usually consisted of the $45 required to sign me up to play basketball and another $30 for the Payless sneakers to replace the tattered ones I grew out of. Between the price of the equipment and the scarcity of ice time, the first time I could afford to play a game of hockey was as a well-paid intern in the middle of my MBA program at Yale.

Even without hockey’s affordability issue, the game itself was culturally inaccessible. The only black players I knew of were Jarome Iginla (because he was awesome), and Fred Brathwaite (because he was in a Nelly video one time). There certainly were no crossover superstars like Ken Griffey Jr. in baseball, or Tiger Woods in golf, who appealed to both urban youth and well-to-do suburbanites. Hell, even the video games were a stark reminder of hockey’s lack of diversity. As recently as 2015, lighter-skinned players of color like Ryan Reaves were depicted as dark-skinned (or as we called it, Wesley Snipes black).

It’s been hard to grow up loving and analyzing a game that seemed to ignore me and others of my ilk at every turn. Nevertheless, within the analytics community in particular, I’ve found a group of people who have supported my work and interest in the sport. I worked on my first expected goals model with former NHL consultant Kevin Mongeon in 2011. In 2017, I was invited to present at the Vancouver Hockey Analytics Conference by Garrett Hohl and Josh Weissbock, and made my first guest appearance on Dimitri Filipovic’s popular Hockey PDOcast. I started writing for blogs like Hockey Graphs and the Raw Charge, and launched my own podcast earlier this year.

Most importantly, I refused to fit anyone’s preconception of how a hockey analyst should look or act. My sneaker game is unmatched on hockey Twitter. I quote 2 Chainz when discussing k-means clustering models and spend as much time discussing social inequality as I do talking about optimal linemates for .

In essence, the NHL itself is increasingly becoming a more diverse and dynamic sport, with exciting players such as P.K. Subban and Jordan Greenway representing a sea change from its current lily-white demographics. My goal is to provide whatever support I can to open the doors for the first black Hart Trophy winner or the first female general manager in NHL history. It’s about time the sport was dragged into the 21st century, and I’ll be happy to kick up my Jordans and watch from the stands as it happens. ESPN.com

Why hockey players don't say 'I'

Emily Kaplan June 6, 2018

LAS VEGAS -- At Final media day, Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov was asked a seemingly simple question: "What is it about the playoffs that brings out the best in you?" After all, the 26- year-old blazed through the first three rounds with a league-high 24 points. His 11 goals were just one shy of that of superstar teammate Alex Ovechkin.

Kuznetsov looked at the reporter, raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Must be a rookie," he quipped. After a pause, Kuznetsov explained: "I don't like to talk about my personal game."

The reporter was, in fact, an industry veteran. The lesson is one that he -- and anyone who follows the NHL closely -- is keenly aware of: hockey players hate talking about themselves. They abhor it so much that a common tic is replacing the pronoun "I" with "we" or "you." (Example: When center Mark Scheifele was asked during the Western Conference finals for the secret to his scoring surge, he responded: "You don't really know if there's anything specific. You just want to play your game and help the team.")

As New York Islanders forward Anders Lee told me earlier in the season: "If anything, you hear the pronoun 'I' when mistakes start to happen."

In some cases, players see a trap with using the "I" pronoun and swiftly circumvent it like they're swerving a Ferrari around a pothole. Washington's John Carlson was reminded this week that he led all defensemen in points in both the regular season and the postseason. Then he was asked what the individual accomplishment meant to him. The nine-year veteran barely hesitated: "It's just a function of teammates around me and just fitting into our team and the way we like to play." Next question.

"It's a team sport. How can you just talk about yourself if the game is won and you scored three goals? Somebody had to pass you the puck at some point," Vegas Golden Knights alternate captain Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. "It's the way we are taught from the start. I've played in different leagues [professionally in France and Sweden, and now the U.S.], and it's the same everywhere. For hockey players, talking about yourself feels wrong."

The paradox encompasses the NHL's core issue with identity. Fans who love the sport appreciate players' selflessness and unwavering commitment to the grind. After all, a star forward skates for only roughly one- third of a game. Stanley Cup folklore is dotted with once-anonymous heroes.

But the sport's popularity can feel limited by its lack of star power. For the second consecutive year, hockey players were frozen out of ESPN's World Fame 100 list. Name a television commercial you've seen recently that a) involves a current NHL star b) runs in the U.S. and c) doesn't include Patrick Kane or Duncan Keith cooing about "real smooth" Gatorade or Braden Holtby making saves for Geico (both companies are, not coincidentally, core league sponsors).

Says one high-profile NHL agent: "If I go to one of my guys and present them with a sponsorship opportunity -- not for an equipment manufacturer -- before they ask me 'How much?' they'll say, 'Do you think it's OK for the team?' And that's just the guys that would consider it. Most would say no right away. Guys just don't want to do anything that calls attention to themselves outside their team."

All of this feels like a stark cultural contrast to NBA or NFL players.

"In basketball or football, a lot of those guys are branding themselves in different ways," Capitals winger Brett Connolly said. "A lot of the hockey guys just want to go about their business. We're not too flashy. Obviously, there are a few guys in the league who do do that, but they're the minority. You just go about your business and let your play do your talking. That's just the way guys are."

Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon scored 39 goals and tallied 97 points this season. The MVP candidate is considered one of the main reasons the Avalanche made a 47-point improvement to make the playoffs. But he doesn't see it that way.

"In other sports, one or two really good players -- an all-star quarterback, LeBron -- can carry you to the finals," MacKinnon said in March. "In hockey, it's not like that at all."

To be fair, not everyone is OK with the status quo. At Stanley Cup Final media day, Capitals depth winger Devante Smith-Pelly made an astute observation: "You watch these events on TV, and it's always the same, and it's always cliché. I think if one day you come to one of these things and everyone talks about themselves, then the next year, everyone will talk about themselves."

When asked if he wished it were different, Smith-Pelly said: "I do, I really do. I joke with the guys that if I ever score a hat trick in the Stanley Cup Final, I'm talking about how good I was, and I'm not talking about any of you. We always joke around about stuff like that. I do wish that guys would -- I wish Ovi would say, 'I'm a sniper, I'm the best goal scorer in the league.' But that's not what hockey players do."

Bellemare considered what it would take for reform in hockey. "I think sometimes our interviews might be boring, for sure. Sometimes we hide our personalities, try not to make mistakes, because it's important for the sake of the franchise, for the sake of the entire town," he said. "At some point, maybe it would be good for guys to show personalities, show when they are pissed off, because people like to see the truth in every guy.

"But I'm not sure how it would change. And I'm not sure change is coming. Many players are just comfortable with it this way." chicagoblackhawks.com

DRAFT: Noah Dobson profile

June 6, 2018 Nick Merlina

AGE: 18 HEIGHT: 6'3'' WEIGHT: 180 TEAM: Acadie-Bathurst CSS RANKING: 5th among NA Skaters

Having the experience of a proven winner is invaluable to a draft prospect's resume.

For scouts working to add prospects to their club's system, it is a sought after and intangible trait that a player either possesses or doesn't.

The past year of Noah Dobson's career has proven he's a coveted option.

The 6'3" defenseman spent his draft-eligible season showing all those who are watching just how much winning he can do.

During August's U-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, Dobson helped anchor the blueline of a Canadian squad that dominated the tournament. Canada won four of their five games and took home a gold medal. Dobson not only led a defense that only gave up seven total goals, but also helped on the offensive end, registering three assists.

That was just the beginning of an explosive offensive season for Dobson.

During his 67 regular season games for the QMJHL's Acadie-Bathurst, Dobson tallied 69 points (17G, 52A) with 11 goals on the man advantage and two game-winning tallies.

His Titans then stormed through the playoffs and took down everyone in their path, winning the QMJHL championship. Dobson posted 13 points (3G, 10A) in 20 games of postseason play.

"I think I played well in the last two rounds of the QMJHL playoffs, especially the semifinals going into the final and playing Blainville-Boisbriand," Dobson told NHL.com's Mike Morreale. "I had a lot of confidence from that and just wanted to go into the Memorial Cup and play my game. I felt I had a really good first game and things kind of just kept progressing from that."

Still, he wasn't done winning.

The Titans made their way to the Memorial Cup, and with four consecutive victories they were champions once again. The defenseman would finish the tournament with seven points (2G, 5A), good enough to share the lead among blueliners, thus securing his third title in the past 10 months.

Those watching Dobson blossom were taking notice.

"Maybe the most impressive thing about Dobson… was that he was just as good in the Memorial Cup final, his 91st game of the season between the QMJHL regular season, playoffs and Memorial Cup, as he was at any other points during the season," said NHL.com writer Adam Kimelman.

His ability to withstand a full season of games and still perform at a high level was impressive to those that saw Dobson take home QMJHL First-Team All Star honors this year. However, his abilities to perform at a high level both mentally and physically were put to the test yet again as he showed up for the NHL Combine just days after winning the Memorial Cup.

"It's a quick turnaround with finishing up my season Sunday," said Dobson, who arrived in Buffalo for all combine activities on just three days later. "It's been a great experience though, and I think all hockey players want to be in this position at the NHL Combine so I am doing my best to soak it all up."

Dobson did what he was set out to do, noting a number of great conversations with different NHL teams, including a dinner meeting with the Chicago Blackhawks.

"It was great, I enjoyed meeting with them," said Dobson. "It was good to get to know them away from the ice and have a conversation in a more casual setting."

He also performed well during the physical aspect of combine testing, reaching 20 inches in the vertical jump and 110.3 inches in the standing long jump.

"I did pretty good in the jumps," Dobson told Morreale. "My agility has always been pretty good, and the pro agility and jumps are usually my strongest tests, so I felt I did really good in those."

With the combine coming to a close, the 18-year-old defenseman will look to return home for a small break before getting back to training where he plans to put on weight in the form of muscle to be able get into an NHL camp and give the decision makers, "no reason to send me back to juniors."

While the process of getting on that professional size is still an ongoing one, it seems most think his talent is not far off.

"He increased his value throughout Acadie-Bathursts's run to the Memorial Cup championship," said NHL.com's Guillaume Lepage. "With his extraordinary vision and skating ease, he shouldn't need to much more development time to establish himself as a major part of an NHL team's future."

Dobson's dream of the NHL will be confirmed when he becomes what many scouts say is a top-tier draft pick. He also is confident in his abilities and what he will bring to the team that selects him.

"I bring a complete two-way game," he said. "I am reliable defensively and I can also get up in the play and create offense which makes me very valuable."

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

"A very effective two-way defenseman with good puck distribution and a strong shot from the points on the power play. He is a point-producer with size, who defends and utilizes strong positioning and a good stick in the defensive zone," said a scout with NHL Central Scouting. chicagoblackhawks.com

BLOG: Kane named Best of May for Team USA

Nick Merlina June 6, 2018

The United States Olympic Committee announced today that Patrick Kane received Best of May honors for the Team USA Awards.

The recognition comes after an outstanding performance at this year's IIHF World Championship, in which Kane was named the Most Valuable Player in the tournament, and earned a spot on the IIHF Media All-Star Team.

Kane, who also represented his country as team captain, set a Team USA single tournament record in points (20) and assists (12). He was the leading point scorer of all skaters in the tournament and his 12 helpers were good enough for second in the championship.

Kane's performance carried the United States to a bronze-medal match where they defeated Canada 4-1. The medal was their first since 2015.

Kane is joined on the Best of May list by swimmer Katie Ledecky and the U.S. men's foil fencing team.