Wednesday brought another round of movement around the NHL, and the biggest shakeup landed in Detroit. Steve Yzerman is stepping out of the general manager chair and into a senior advisor role with Red Wings CEO Chris Ilitch, ending a run that never got Detroit to the playoffs.
The timing stands out, since the move came after the draft and free agency, but the pressure had clearly been building. Ilitch made the organization’s frustration plain, saying:
Clearly, we are not where we and our fans expect to be as an organization. I’m looking forward to bringing in new leadership to build the championship-caliber organization Hockeytown deserves.
Elsewhere, the Devils added another veteran scorer, locking up Anthony Mantha on a two-year, $9.5 million deal. The 31-year-old forward is coming off a career year with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he put up 33 goals and 64 points.
New Jersey also made changes behind the bench and in the goalie department. The Devils hired Ted Donato, the longtime Harvard head coach and Ryan’s dad, and also brought in Leo Luongo as their new director of goaltending. Luongo is Roberto’s younger brother.
A pair of players also came off the arbitration board on Wednesday. Winnipeg signed Cole Perfetti to a five-year, $30 million contract, while Trevor Zegras and the Philadelphia Flyers agreed to a four-year, $36.5 million deal later in the day.
The Rangers added a young defenseman to the mix as well, signing Albert Smits to a three-year entry-level contract. Smits was the fifth overall pick in last month’s NHL Entry Draft and the second blueliner selected.
Around Chicago, the Blackhawks got their own bit of schedule news when the NHL released home openers for all 32 teams. That gave the first four opponents for Chicago, and without Connor Bedard, the Blackhawks open with three straight road games against teams that reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
There was also some prospect chatter on the Blackhawks side, with Richard Jelinek pointing to seventh-round pick William Sorbrand as a player who could surprise people and reach the NHL someday.
Ryan Gagne also raised a question that will hang over the organization now that Jonathan Toews is retired: how long before the Blackhawks raise No. 19 to the United Center rafters?
And in the ongoing “What If” week, the conversation turned back to the 2005 NHL Entry Draft and the possibility that the Blackhawks’ golden era might have looked even better if they had gone a different direction with their first-round pick.
Finally, July 16 also marks a Blackhawks birthday roll call for Duncan Keith.
In Other News...
Blackhawks Face An Emotional Jonathan Toews No. 19 Debate
Jonathan Toews retirement has quickly turned the conversation in Chicago from what he meant on the ice to when the Blackhawks will formally honor him with a No. 19 jersey retirement. The franchise has never rushed those decisions, often waiting years or even decades before hanging a number in the rafters, and Toews fits the kind of legacy that usually gets measured carefully rather than emotionally.
He is already one of the defining figures in team history, a three-time Stanley Cup champion and the captain who helped steer the Blackhawks through their most successful era. The case for No. 19 is obvious, but the bigger question is whether the organization wants to make that call soon or let the weight of Toews place in franchise history settle a little longer first. [Read more 🡒]
Patrick Kanes All-Time Legacy Just Got Pulled Into A Heated Debate
Patrick Kanes place in the hockey conversation is getting a fresh round of scrutiny, and for good reason. The comparison with Evgeni Malkin is a natural one: both are three-time Stanley Cup winners, both have stacked up major individual honors, and both have spent years shaping the way their teams played at the highest level. Kanes case has always rested on more than trophies, though. For Chicago, he was the face of an era that changed the franchise and helped redefine what elite American-born skill could look like in the NHL.
What makes the debate interesting is how close the resumes are, and how differently the two stars arrived at them. Malkin has the edge in some of the leagues biggest individual awards, while Kanes influence has often been measured in a broader way, through his creativity, his postseason impact and the way he elevated teammates around him. Even now, with his career still adding new layers, the question is less about what he has already done than how the rest of the story will be framed when the final accounting comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]
One Blackhawks Draft What If Could Haunt The Dynasty Years
The Blackhawks dynasty years still invite a fresh round of draft-day second-guessing, especially when you look back at how Dale Tallon, Mike Smith and Stan Bowman assembled the core that powered Chicagos run. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane became the franchise-defining stars, but the broader draft record from that era is part of what made the organization so formidable, and so fascinating to revisit now.
One pick in particular keeps tugging at the imagination because it sits right in the middle of the teams rise and the choices that shaped its roster. Chicago did land a useful player with that selection, but the question of what the Blackhawks might have become if the board had broken differently lingers over the entire dynasty conversation, from the balance of the lineup to the timing of the clubs next great leap. [Read more 🡒]