Blackhawks Announce Training Camp Schedule and Rosters | CHGO Blackhawks Podcast

Blackhawks Announce Training Camp Schedule and Rosters | CHGO Blackhawks Podcast

This week we are a day and a half away from Blackhawks training camp. We’ve got rosters, we’ve got schedules, we’ve got Matt Grizzlick. Lots to talk about today on CHDO Blackhawks. [Applause] [Music] Happy Tuesday. Welcome in to the CHGL Blackhawks podcast. I’m Jay Zawaski with Mario Turbosi. Joey Chrisopoulos is here running the show for us today. We’re glad you’re with us. Do us a favor. Hit that like button for us. Make sure you are subscribed to our YouTube page if you’re listening on the podcast. Thank you. We love you. Make sure you’re following or subscribed there as well. And leave us a fivestar review on Apple Podcasts and or Spotify. Before we get started, want to remind you that we are uh for the remainder of this month raising funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters. This is our month of giving at CHGO in all cities. So, if you want to kick in a couple bucks, you can donate on the YouTube page. You can scan. Is there a QR code on that graphic, Joey? There is not. You can go to bbbs.org to donate there. bbbs.org/allcity. That way they know you went there through us. Do that. Give a couple bucks. And we’ve been telling everybody all month, if you want to sacrifice a cup of coffee a week, maybe a pack of smokes a week, uh, to help these big brothers, big sisters, it goes a long way. If everybody watching all the All City shows does that, everybody kicks in five bucks. It might not feel like much as a onetime donation, but if everybody did it, we’d raise a ton of money. Right now, from what we understand, CHGO is in the lead of all the All City uh markets, which is What else is surprising? Our team suck, but we donate well, and we’re we’re generous people. So, keep that up. Let’s blow these other All City Network uh shows out of the water. Keep giving. BBBS.org/allcity. All right. Well, we’re almost there. Tomorrow, the players will report for their physicals. Uh, so that will be their official open for training camp. And then the on ice portion begins on Thursday at 53rd Arena. We’ve got schedules, we’ve got information. One thing I can tell you, the Blackhawks have confirmed they will not be requiring tickets to attend training camp. So, if you want to go to Fifth Third, you can just show up free and open to the public. And uh as Greg said on Twitter today, don’t take our parking spots, please. Yes, do not do that. Exactly. But yeah, come out and see the see all your favorite Blackhawks, including Matt Grizzly, but not limited to Matt Grizzlick. Well, let’s start there. What the That that’s the big surprise on the roster. Lauren Bruis and Ty Henry marked as injured. No surprise there. Wyatt Kaiser is on the roster, but it says still no contract. Yep. Uh it doesn’t say that, but it indicates there’s no contract there. Says not on a contract, right? So, um but this morning, Elliot Friedman had it first, and it’s confirmed on the team roster here. A defenseman Matt Grizzlick, who spent last year with the Pittsburgh Penguins, 82 games, one goal, 39 assists. Uh left-handed, left side defenseman is on a PTO. Now, that doesn’t mean he’s been signed. It doesn’t mean he’s going to be on the team when the season begins, but it’s something that it’s something that got my eyebrows raised because again, Wyatt Kaiser, left side defenseman, no contract. Maybe this is a little bit of a warning shot across the bow to Wy Kaiser that, hey, we’ve got your replacement in house right now. Yeah. I mean, so PTO is not paid time off in this situation. It is professional tryyout. So, it’s a it’s a tryyout contract. Um, so yeah, I mean he’ll be in camp and as far as I can remember it because we were talking before the show started, Jared Torty was a waiver claim. Um, I think this is the first like PTO into training camp of Kyle Davidson’s tenure as far as I can remember cuz I looked back at some of the other rosters for training camp and there were some you know there’s there’s always guys that are um, you know, some lower level players, but as far as I can understand, everyone that usually is there for training camp is on a regular contract. I know I I was personally stumping for Phil Kessle one training camp. That didn’t happen unfortunately. Just for camp anyway. Um so this is this is not a a normal practice uh to have PTO players of this caliber um come into training camp under Kyle Davidson. So, it is it definitely got my eyebrows raised, especially with the W Kaiser situation still uh unresolved and for the fact that yes, Matt Grizzlick is not the perfect defenseman, but a 40point defenseman over a full 30 or 82 game schedule last year. Like, he it was surprising that he was still a free agent to me at least. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I’m I I’m I’m very intrigued by what this could signal. Is it insurance for the young defenseman not being ready to be full-time NHLers? That’s where I lean if I want to twirl the mustache. Could this be Kyle Davidson saying to Wyatt Kaiser, “Okay, if you don’t want to be here, somebody else will take your spot.” I It’s It’s interesting. Well, so yes, and I I look, I don’t think Kyle Davidson’s the kind of guy that is going to be like, “Look at this, Wyatt Kaiser, you bastard. We just signed Matt Grizzlick. Take that. Take that, agents.” No, I think that he is protecting himself from training camp. If Kevin Corinsky doesn’t look quite ready, if Delm Master and Allen, maybe feel like they need more time, you’ve got a veteran guy you can sign, you can plug right in, and you’re not feeling long-term pot committed to him. If those guys suddenly prove ready, maybe it’s Kinsky or any of those guys I mentioned, play 10, 15 games in Rockford, then all of a sudden, okay, good, now they feel ready, you wave Matt Grizzlick and and what will be will be. Um, I wouldn’t get too worked up about it yet. I will say this, I think Matt Grizzlick is a lesser player than Wyatt Kaiser. I’d rather see Delmas or Kchinsky play here, but I also do trust that Davidson and Blau are not going to put a kid that’s not ready in the lineup simply because they’re a kid and simply because we have the appetite to see all the kids play all the minutes. It’s up to them to protect the development of those players. So if they had Wyatt Kaiser penciled in as left D3, which I think a lot of us did, and they have envisioned more time for the other guys mentioned, then fine. Grizzlick here for a short amount of time while these guys get ready. I have no problem with it. Does it excite me? No. Is he good or a needle mover? Not really. Uh the fancy stats look bad. And I think he’s what I call the Kyle Calder rule is you’re on a bad team and someone has to get points. M I think Matt Grizzlick is one of those guys. Maybe I don’t want to take too much away from him, but I it’s I don’t think it’s a guy that’s going to make the Hawks significantly better or significantly worse. I think it’s an I think it is exactly what it feels like, an insurance policy. Yeah, I I I think you you look at what he did last season in Pittsburgh. Um a career-high 40 points. Um 15 power play points last season. like it wasn’t a guy that was, you know, I I don’t think we you can you can kind of attribute it akin to like Eric Gustoson where he went on his one season heater of 60 points and it was just like, wow, now everyone’s got to have Eric Gustin. I don’t think it’s anything like that. No. Um, but I think it I I think it’s it’s to say that you had a half point per game defenseman on a on a bad team. Um I I I I I think he still brought something to the table as you see from our friend uh J Fresh Hockey. Uh the the fancy stats on the the right side that um that uh chart is trending downwards. I mean it’s when he joined a bad team, but yeah, going going from going from Boston to Pittsburgh. Um I I I think by all by all um accounts like this is a guy that deserved a chance somewhere in the NHL and I think the the Blackhawks ended up giving him that opportunity based off of the fact that yeah they’re going into this season outside of Conor Murphy all of your defenseman were going to be 24 years old or younger. A lot of them with less than a full NHL years of experience um of games played. So it’s it it feels more like an insurance policy and a very lowrisk move that if okay if he comes in on a PTO, right? And the young players are at the level that you want them to be at. Okay, you had the opportunity to play. We got you into some preseason games or whatever it is. Maybe another opportunity is going to be out there for you to sign with the team. We’re going to be good with our kids. If if it comes down to, uhoh, Delmastro, Allen, and Kchinsky aren’t all NHL ready, here’s someone on the left side that you can throw in there, and you’re not going to, you know, be killed necessarily by third pair minutes. And you still got to figure out what’s going on with Wyatt Kaiser. If he’s not in the fold, then you need someone like Matt Grizzlick to play those those minutes um and and play in that role. And if Wy Kaiser is in the fold, then it’s more chips stacked against the fact that maybe Matt Grizzlick’s here longer than a few weeks. But I don’t know. It uh it with it not being a normal Kyle Davidson thing, it it it raises my antenna a little bit of like it’s interesting. Yeah. And and again, I I think the I wouldn’t read too much into does this mean they’ve already made a decision on some of these young defenseman? No. But I think it is smart to have an insurance policy considering where things seem to be with Wyatt Kaiser because like I mentioned to start the show, tomorrow is the day of the physicals and he cannot go to the physicals if he does not have a contract. Right. So, and now now the question asks if if Wyatt Kaiser signs a contract before, you know, tomorrow morning. Now, what do you make of this thing? What do you make of Macros? Like, maybe it’s just a body for camp. Yeah. Maybe it’s a guy they think like let’s let’s see what he’s got. Take a look. There’s no pressure to you’re not obligated to do anything with Macros. Look, it also gives him the opportunity to probably play in a preseason game or two and display what he’s got for other teams around the league. I remember we’re talking about historic PTO’s. Brent Soil before joining the 2010 Hawks was on a PTO with the Red Wings and was in camp with the Red Wings and they I think the Hawks. I don’t remember if Detroit let him go or if the Hawks were just like, “Well, we’re just going to give you an NHL contract.” So, he left Detroit to come to Chicago and won a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks. People forget that that happened that the Hawks won a Stanley Cup in 2010, then again in 2013, and then once more in 2015. Um, but so yeah, I mean these these things are opportunities for guys looking for work. So let’s not I don’t think even if they do sign him, I probably don’t think it’s worth freaking out about one way or the other. You know that this regime is bullish on the prospects they have. They want these kids to play. They want these kids to thrive. Kyle Davidson’s tenure as Blackhawks GM is going to be based on the development of these young players. So, he’s not going to do anything that’s going to prevent them from playing if they’re ready. He wants them as badly as anybody does, but he’s also, as I said earlier, he’s not going to put them in a position if they’re not ready in his mind to play at the NHL level. Someone in the chat said it’s the defense defensive version of Sam Laughafer. Yes, it’s an insurance policy. And if you want to scratch them or if you want to wave them after 20 games or trade them or whatever it might be after a while, once you once you’ve determined your kids are fully ready, cool. if he even gets a real contract, if it even happens, which remains to be seen. I mean, looking at the training camp roster for the defenseman, I see one one birthday besides the AHL’s Caven Fitzgerald and now Matt Grizzlick that is in the year that starts with a one one nine only one. So I think even if you have See you guys later. I think even if you have, you know, this you have this influx of young defenseman, even for training camp purposes, you still need someone who’s been around the block to just be someone that can be in the room, another defensive mind, someone to bounce ideas off of, someone who’s played a lot of NHL games other than Conor Murphy. So having Matt Grizzlick around for these young defenseman to kind of be that resource, I don’t think is a is a terrible idea. I also don’t I don’t uh I don’t mind him, you know, it’s a guy who has got a lot of success in a power play, you know. So I mean, I know we’d all like to see Alex Vic get an opportunity, but he’s going to be counted on now with such a young core to be your top defensive defenseman. So maybe you don’t want to give him an extra four or six minutes a night on the power play every night when he’s already going to be probably drawing the toughest matchup. So a lot here. We’ll have time to analyze it, but hey, you know, camp opens in, uh, you know, less than 24 hours. So yeah, or just over 24 hours. So um, this is what we got to talk about right now. Yeah, people are people have thoughts on Mac. Well, yeah. I think I I think just the timing of it right before training camp, Wyatt Kaiser still unsigned and you signed a guy who is a left side puck moving defenseman to fill that role and you’re just like throws you for a loop, right? So, we’ll see how it plays out. I can’t wait for the 3:05 p.m. uh news drop today of Wyatt Kaiser. Oh, yeah. You know that’s happening. Can’t wait 100%. All right, we’ll talk to you on the other side of the break zone. Already 50 likes. That’s good. Could be better though. Hit that like button for us. Let’s get those numbers last year 100%. And double the points of Murphy as Andrew points out. That’s true. Cuz Conor Murphy offensive defenseman. We’re back in two on CHO Blackhawks. Defensive defense. I know. 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Again, that’s four seasonasons heatingcooling.com. Hi, we’re back on CHCO Blackhawks. So, just to share with you the practice schedule for this week, Thursday, uh 8:30 practice session, 9:30 practice session, and then 11:40 Kyle Davidson will talk at 11. What are we doing? We’ll bring those uh Yeah, we’ll bring those comments to you on the show Thursday. 8:30. Yeah, some of us live in Wisconsin almost. Oh, come on. You know, if it isn’t the consequences of our choices. Come on here. I live in almost Indiana. 8:30 practice. Uh, Friday 9:15, 9:30, 11:25 practice sessions. And then Saturday 8:30, 9:30, 11:40. Sunday 8:30, 9:30, 11:40. So none of those need uh tickets. You can go to those. They practice Monday as well. Tuesday you’ve got the first preseason game. We’re a week away from the first preseason game in Detroit. Random question. Yes. What time do you think Connor Bard goes to bed at night? Well, for this type of training camp, they tuck him in his PJs, right? Are we talking? I think iPad is 7 p.m. Should I I think iPad time is over after dinner. Gets a little bit of screen time. No, he sneaks the iPad. I’m combining that. Yeah, probably gets a a warm glass of milk and then goes to bed probably 8:30, 8:45. Yeah. 8:30, 8:45. Probably up by 4:35. Well, he wakes up. He c he wakes up crying and then they have to tuck him back in, put on the little white noise machine next to his little bed. He’s 20 now. He’s 20 now. Watch a little watch little X-Men in the morning. He’s no longer a teenager. I’m just saying that’s an early that’s an early call time and they’re trying to get their bodies in shape right now. So, I’m just imagining they have to be in bed by Yeah. 8:00. I’m sure the the the 1000 p.m. uh nighttime is pretty pretty standard. Yeah. Uh first time ever, I think, uh daughter woke up early this morning and walked down and woke me up. Oh. First time that’s ever happened. So that was a Is that good or bad? It was fine. She was just like needed a little reassurance and I said, “Oh, you can just put your head down on the couch. It’s okay.” And went out there and she fell asleep like instantly. Nice. Good parenting. Good job. Yeah. Yeah. My daughter is always the first one up in our house. A thumbs down for me talking about my daughter. Thank you for that thumbs down. Awesome. Talk more hockey. We don’t care about your personal lives. You may have learned that people on the internet are weird. Yeah. as evidenced by my Twitter yesterday, which was interesting. Oh, yes, that was a Yes. Uh, all right. Let’s uh anything else we need to share? If you missed it, we will share Kyle Davidson tomorrow after he speaks. Thursday. Thursday. Thank you. Thursday. Um, after he speaks, we’ll get the latest updates on the medicals of Laurent Persuis. And if Wyatt Kaiser doesn’t have a contract, that’ll be interesting to hear about. Uh, it will be where things stand with that. The more time that goes by with this, the weirder it it’s like what what are we doing? Yeah. Well, I mean, you I mean, again, look around the league. Mason McTavish is still unsigned. Luke Hughes is still unsigned. Evan Evangelista is still unsigned. Like, those are young and important players to those teams just still without contracts. Yeah. All right. It’s a new NHL and these these kids don’t just get whatever they want nowadays. Got to earn it. No one wants to work anymore. Yeah. All right. I don’t know. Let’s get to the mailbag, shall we? This one from Hitch. He said, “You talked on Wednesday about how all the prospect gurus always rave about how strong the Hawks prospect system is, but which NHL team has the worst prospect system? Do the experts ever talk about that? I assume the perennial contenders are thin in their prospect ranks, but do you know any systems that should be good but aren’t?” See, that’s a good question. You’re right. Like the should be good but aren’t like the Florida Panthers are down there, you know? Uh cuz they’re just always trying to win. Mhm. Um but trying to think of a team that should have better prospects than they do. The So I’ll go with friend of the program Scott Wheeler. Uh he did his prospect pool rankings for the athletic. The Blackhawks were number two on his list. Um, number 32 on his list, staying in the All City Network is the Avalanche. 32nd worst prospect system in the NHL according to Scott Wheeler. Also down there, 31st the Oilers. 30th the Golden Knights. 29th the Panthers. 28th the Lightning. So, all the teams that are going to be favored to win the Stanley Cup, they said, as Michael Jordan would say, f them kids. Um, I’ll say a team that I think their prospect system should be better, but is not, uh, for all the times that they’ve kind of been rebuild and on the fly and down in the lottery. Ottawa, I agree. Ottawa. I don’t I feel like they’ve maybe given up a few prospects in in attempts to compete faster than uh expected, but you know, eventually Brady Kachchuck didn’t wasn’t a prospect anymore. And you know, Jake Sanderson, I don’t think is a prospect anymore. So, you know, you you got uh you got some of those pieces that are now full fully NHL players out of the prospect pool. Um is probably their big one right now. they haven’t really loaded beyond that. Yeah. So, I think yeah, for teams that have not had a ton of success that are towards the bottom, uh Ottawa stands out for sure. Yeah. Um but usually if you look if you look at like the like the rolling standings over like a three or four year period, usually the teams that are at the top of the standings and the bottom when you talk about prospects, you flip that table over. Yeah. And it reflects that. Yep. Uh Brian asked about Detroit. Detroit’s uh I Stephen Ellis has them 11th. Scott Wheeler also has them. So they’re not great but they’re not terrible. They’re kind of in the middle just like the actual Red Wings. Top top third of the prospect pool is fine. Yep. All right. Rex, by the way, just became a member on our YouTube. Thanks, Rex. So, thanks. Yeah, we do have YouTube memberships uh if you want to sign up for those. We have so much stuff to tell you about that sometimes I forget. Yeah. Yeah. The Did we mention the all CHGO newsletter that Patrick Nor and we have a sale? Yes, we do have a sale. Sunday tailgate bears. All the merch is on sale. All chg.com. 20% off everything up to 85% off some things. If you want to become a YouTube member, you got a $5 MVP tier that gives you access to emojis, membersonly post, pearls, polls, and priority uh comments. The Hall of Fame tier gives you all that and membersonly videos and shoutouts. So, that’s the YouTube thing. I mentioned the sale. We mentioned Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Blackhawks takeaways. Blackhawks uh takeovers. Yeah, takeovers. Those are almost sold out. Are we fully sold out yet? Uh last look, we were more than halfway sold out for the entirety of our takeovers. Um which are December 13th against the Red Wings. That’s sold out for sure. Sold out. Uh January 19th against the Winnipeg Jets. That one had a as we launched it to the public had only three uh tickets left. And then April 15th, the regular season finale at home uh against the San Jose Sharks, that one was about halfway sold. So jump on those tickets if they’re still available. allcity uh.com or allo.com rather. Uh go to the events tab and you’ll find our takeovers there. All right. and sign up for Patrick Norton’s newsletter. All chggo.comnewsletter. He’s funny. He’s great. It’s good stuff. It’s in your inbox if you’re a diehard already. Open it, read it. It gets gets you caught up on the day uh in sports so you’re ready to go to work and talk sports with an educated uh background on stuff. So, all right, that’s everything. Do we check all the boxes, Joey? I think that’s pretty much every box. Anything from the all city meeting this morning? No. Oh, here. I’ll show the financials for the network. Yeah. Here’s here’s how we’re doing. I think I think we’re in good shape, gentlemen. Yeah. Yes. All right. I always don’t scare me. All hands meeting. Like, oh, we’re all fired. Why is that everyone’s first thought anytime there’s an all hands meeting? I do expect bad news every time. We’ve had meetings. Yes, we have had that. We’re cancelling Christmas. Not going to lie. Yeah. I always check good news today. I always check who’s invited to the meeting. That’s true. I think though with a with a week lead in I was like, “All right, it can’t be horrible news. We’d find out.” That’s like the most Good fellas thing you’ve ever said in your life. I’m checking who’s going to the meeting. It’s just ripe. Who’s supposed to be here? Walking right through the garage. Mario, you’re supposed to be that’s not Yeah. When DJ Bean pops in, you know it’s a big deal. Mario’s gone. We did did everything we could, but he’s gone. Uh, speaking of DJ, I reached out to him uh about Matt Grizz. Just get a a temperature on him. He says, “Good guy. Nice guy to root for.” Um, can he play hockey? DJ can play hockey. We’ve confirmed that. Okay. So, well, that’s good. He can play hockey. Well, he so to DJ’s words, uh, he says, uh, it was tough for him in Boston to really break out because they had Tory Krug, who was the exact same player only better. Okay, fair. So, uh, True Value Tory Krug is Matt Grizzlick according to DJ Bean. Great. Great value M uh, Tory Krug, we’ll take them. Great Value or True Value? What’s the difference? No, True Value is hardware store. Great Value is the Walmart version. Value. All right, I’ll I’ll let your your bits be your bits. Uh, all right. Atomic Hawk says, “Something I don’t understand is if you’re Carell Capriov, why would you wave your no movement clause to go to another team who then who those assets would lower their chance of contending instead of dealing with one more mediocre year before signing with the team in free agency?” So you’re saying okay so if he’s if if Caprio is waving his no movement clause that’s with the assumption that he’s joining a team he wants to join and there is a long-term agreement tied to that. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. But I think the question is to get Capriov that team that he’s going to would likely have to give up things that would help him theoretically in the immediiacy. Sure. Unless you’re looking at it like a like what the hurricanes did with Miko Rant and is they just kind of flipped the guy they were having trouble signing, right? It was Yeah. was it was nature was it was nature like it was going to happen in Carolina and Ranton and you flipped those guys and then and Carolina tried to get Mitch Mner first, right? And then Mner didn’t wouldn’t wave to go to Carolina so they moved on to Ranton. Mhm. So, it could be something like that if it is a we’re going to rent you for the playoffs and just slightly upgrade kind of a thing. So, yeah. Yeah. I mean, the the I guess the best case scenario for Capriovv is if he’s looking to go to a new team that the Wild would get a deal done that doesn’t include many established NHL players, but that doesn’t benefit them in the immediiacy since they’re trying to be a playoff team right now. Don’t they kind of have to get something back that helps them right away? Yeah, you have to. I like even if it’s not I mean it’s not going to be a player of Capriovv’s level, but it can’t be for picks and prospects. Capriovv for Crosby. One for one. Sure. How about that? Sounds fun. Speaking of Carrill Capriovv, uh Michael Russo of Minnesota Wild Athletic Beat um he put out here from a notsponsored gambling site. Uh, Carell Capriov’s next team odds according to non-sponsored gambling site. Carolina Hurricanes plus 400 odds. Detroit Red Wings plus 450 odds. No. Your Chicago Blackhawks plus 450 odds. Minnesota Wild plus 550. So according to non-sponsored gambling site, the Blackhawks and Red Wings are tied for the second best odds to land Capri. And they have better odds than him going back. Staying in Minnesota. Yep. I’ll take that. So, take that for what it’s worth. All right. I will. I don’t know what it’s worth cuz it’s not one of our favorite gambling sites. It’s not like circa. I don’t know how to I don’t know how much to trust it as far as I can throw it. That’s true. And I can throw it pretty far. Right over those mountains over there. Back in 82. I can throw a football over a mountain. All right, we’re going to hit the break zone one more time. Hit the like button. Back to the mailbag in a moment on CHL Blackhawks. today when I uh checked my email and saw the Blackhawks training camp schedule and saw the first few days were opening at 8:30 in the morning. Kind of felt down in the dumps, feeling a little soft. You know what I did? Got to the office, cracked myself an RC Cola. No more softness. I’m ready to go. I’m ready for camp. I’m actually going to go when the show ends and just wait until Thursday morning. I’ll do tomorrow’s show from the parking lot. Damn it. I am ready because of RC Cola. RC Cola is an original cola that doesn’t fold under the pressure. RC is an OG cola in a world of spineless soft drinks. You’re sick of the dragon fruit acai sparkling water that tastes like someone ate dragon fruit and then burped it into a can and then close it up. No, you want taste. You want you want pizzazz with your pop. RC tastes like a punch in the throat. Get some at your local store. Stock up for all the ball games this weekend. RC’s the move for whatever you’re doing. RC Cola is not a soft drink, just damn good cola. It’s good to crack open when you’re watching your favorite sports teams. And you can do that on Chicago Sports Network. They’re back as the official TV and streaming home of the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Socks, broadcasting over 300 live games per year. And they offer the all access plan, which is the $29.99 a month. that gives you access to all games and programming on their network and individual team plans at $19.99 a month that gives you access to the games of the team you select. You can sign up to watch CHSN at chsn.com or you can watch via the CHSN app which can be downloaded on Apple and Android devices, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Samsung TV. CHSN is also available on Xfinity, Direct TV, Direct TV Stream, and Fubo. For more details, visit chsn.com. It’s going to be great to be able to watch all of your favorite teams do whatever it is that they do this season. Win, hopefully, or lose. Damn, trying to match the pose again. I can’t get it right. It’s hard. You just got to remember you got to pronounce it. You got to do like a Vogue thing. I get like chalk lines. I know where to put my hands on. The thinking man. Do the thinking man. Perfect. I know what to do with my hands. All right. Taking a temp is presented by your local trusted experts at Four Seasons Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, and Electric. Visit Four Seasons Heatingcooling.com for all their special offers and money-saving coupons. That’s fourseasons heatingcooling.com. We’ve got some uh fans chiming in about the next location for Carell Capriov. Chris W says the Rangers. Pat Jers says if you’re stuck in Minnesota, wouldn’t you want out too? Yes. Yeah, probably. I agree. Carolina boring. Like if if if Capri off isn’t happy in Minnesota cuz he’s not getting the star power he feels he deserves, which I think he’s not getting. I think that he’s toiling in obscurity in Minnesota. Going to Carolina is not going to fix that. Gets him closer to the Stanley Cup. I’d say I’d say it’s e it’s it’s a better chance that Carolina can reach the Stanley Cup final with Krill Capriovv than the Minnesota Wild doing it with Capabil Capri off. So yeah, true. You I mean I think that’s a driving factor there. You add Capriov to the Hurricanes and they become a more sol solidified contender in the East to you know the the conference that’s run by the Panthers right now. What if they flipped Logan Stinkovven for Carell Capri off and it ultimately turned out to be Martin Nes for Carell Capri off? I mean the trade tree is wild, but I think you uh you come out the other end feeling pretty good, right? Feeling pretty good. Yeah, I would say so. You feel better than you did when uh Mico Ren was there for a week and was like, you know what? I don’t want to be here. I’m good. Yeah, take me somewhere else. And we also have people chiming in RC cola. Uh Sean Fitzgerald says, “Drinking RC as we’re talking the best cola.” Yeah. And Pip Hastings Aviation says, “RCola, the V Viagra of the soda world. I’ll take your word for it, Pip.” Yeah, I think four out of five doctors agree. All right, let’s get to another mailbag question here. Uh, thanks for all the great questions this week. This from Lord Tobias. He says, “Everyone says two to three years before the Hawks are a playoff team. I think it’s more four or five. Look at our division and who the Hawks would need to take over. I think we need to temper our expectations. I hope I’m wrong, though. I was I think I’m saying two to three years is when they’re firmly in contention for a playoff spot. Yeah. I mean I I would like to think at this stage by next season you’re talking about a team that is going to be uh more to deal with in the central division. And you know you look at where teams are at right now. Are they catching, you know, in this season or next? Are they catching Colorado? Are they catching Winnipeg? No. Are they catching Dallas? No. Could they leapfrog Nashville? Maybe. Could they leaprog a potentially Kill Capriov less Minnesota Wild team? Sure. Maybe. Could they leaprog the Blues in the next two seasons? Maybe. I I think it’s it’s it’s more of a possibility for them to do that in the next two seasons than than I think we’re talking about five years before they’re even, you know, in a wild card race or anything like that. We we had a conversation with uh Mark Lazarus um yesterday just kind of the Blackhawks haven’t been in a chase for the playoffs in over a decade. In over a decade. Um they’re either firmly in or or firmly out. Yeah. So, I think I think in the next over the next two seasons, you’re going to see a team develop into a team that can get into that chase. So, I I I don’t think it’s four to five years before you’re talking about playoffs. I think realistically by the end of next season, the expectation should be we should be one of the best 16 teams in the NHL. Yeah, I would say that. And I also think too like there’s always too optimistic. There’s no Well, there’s always those teams that just out of nowhere fall apart. Like look at Boston. No one saw what was coming with Boston last year and they just sucked. Yeah. And it was just kind of out of the blue. Everyone kind of got old at the same time and it just it just didn’t work anymore. Teams teams go through peaks and valleys. The Rangers were having this really nice run of a couple really nice seasons and they sort of fell apart last year. So there’s always a team that falls apart. There’s always a team that makes a jump you don’t expect. So, look, you’ve got a lot of young talent and we don’t know when that young talent’s going to pop off. It could be this year, it could be next year. I think the longer we predict the more accurate will be, right? Because it’s probably not going to be this year. It’s not impossible. But you look at Connor Vadar two, three years down the road. Frank Nazar two, three years down the road, Anton Frenell in the fold, whoever they draft this year, a player they might sign or pick up. Like, yeah, and a prospect maybe you don’t expect. I mean, look, two years ago, no one was talking about Sam Renzel as a Norris candidate or a Calder candidate rather, right? People are talking about him as a Calder candidate this year. Yeah, that’s out of the blue. Sometimes prospects just have that jump and it could be someone that’s here now. Maybe it’s Mason West. Maybe it’s Vakov Nestrasil. We don’t know. Maybe they’re not here yet. Whoever that player is, there’s a chance they get Gavin McKenna and that changes everything, right? So, there’s a chance. Adrianne brings up a good point, too. Everyone thought Nashville was going to be a big contender before last season. People were picking Nashville to win Central. I I had much higher hopes for them than they ended up finishing. Yeah. So, you never know. You never know where these fall-offs and where these jumps are going to come from. So it’s hard to look ahead two to three years and say like well Dallas I mean at some point maybe all the miles on like guys like Melro Heiskin and Eric and like that it starts to take its toll and they start to lose a step. We It happened very quickly with the Blackhawks. They won the cup in 2015 and by 2017 that team was toast. Yeah. Like that 171 18 season it it just happens. It happens very quickly. So yeah, and I and I think you look at some of those teams that in two or three years, you know, might if they’re if they’re kind of just hanging on now, if the things don’t go right, then they’re going to fall fall to the wayside. And then look, I mean, those teams that we were talking about earlier about like the contenders have bad prospect pools. when that contender falls off like the 2015 Blackhawks and you don’t have the prospect pool, it’s a long cycle to to retool yourself back up to contention. Um, outside of trying to just trade everybody and free agent your way back to a team like that just doesn’t really happen in the NH. Well, and then all of a sudden guys like Alex De Brinkit and Dylan Stro and Patrick Kane become available from teams that are like, well, we’re done, you know. So, you know, maybe in three years the Rangers is punt and all those all the talented forwards the Rangers have become available. Well, I mean, look at like uh a team that I that I feel like is still squarely a contender, but it does kind of feel like there’s a little bit of teetering maybe like the foundation is not as solid as it was three years ago as Colorado. Like, could they win the div division this year? Yeah. Could they also be done in the first round? Yes, I could see that happening, too. Yeah. And you know, I’m not They could win the cup, too. I’m not. Yeah, like I’m not betting against guys like Nathan McKinnon and Kale Mar right now, right? But you gotta see what the rest of the team does. And I don’t know. I just I just think there are some teams both, you know, in the Central and Pacific when you’re talking about, you know, Blackhawks trying to get back to playoff contention and being in that picture. There are a few teams that are like, “Yeah, they’re contenders now, but when the Blackhawks feel like they’re going to have the their their foot on the gas 100%.” There might be some teams that are starting to fall apart. Yep. All right, let’s get to another mailbag question here. This from that short guy. He’s got a Munchkin from Wizard of Oz in his uh avatar. Is it Is it Do you think it’s that uh who was uh in Wizard of Oz? Could be. I think that person’s probably long dead. No, you never know. I don’t know. We’ll find out. They sure they say shorter people uh live longer. Could be Mugsy Bogues. It could be. Let’s start that speculation. It could be Spud Webb. Yep. Short people draft. All right. The short guy says, “Do you think that if Kyle Davidson knew Renzel would be this good a year ago that he would have taken Demov over Levette Verbique?” Ah, I think if if you knew you had a guy that at 21 in what would be his first full rookie year, you would feel comfortable saying, “Yeah, he’s probably going to play 20 plus minutes a night on the right side and be penciled into being a top pair of guy with Alex Classic.” I think it might change. I think it might change the direction of of how you look at your prospect pool because when we were in the thick of the Demodv or Levinov debate, it was, you know, okay, they don’t have that do it all gamechanging defenseman. They have a lot of good forwards, especially with counter Bard. Um, but if you go back a year and a couple week or a couple months ago and you say, “Hey, Sam Sam Renzel is is a number one caliber defenseman.” I think it changes the the complexity of that discussion and I think even more of at least the fan base I think would have been stumping for Ivan Demad. I I think that I think it would have changed things for sure. Um I also I’d love to talk to Kyle Davidson over a beer on a boat or something like was there any do both remember with Demov there was baggage there. There was will he come to to the United States right remember Mitkov would have been drafted sooner but basically said I just want to go to Philly that came out like I want to come to Philly and I’ll leave early to come to Philly. Mhm. That’s what I want. And for whatever reason, I don’t know what it was about Philly specifically that Mitchkov really liked. Fine. But like he really wanted to talk to Charlie Oconor. Maybe there was something there with Demidov where Davidson was a little bit concerned that maybe he doesn’t come to to the States or he doesn’t come soon enough. And he weighed that in his decision too. He tried to get both. Didn’t succeed, you know. So I don’t want to give him credit for trying, but he did want both guys. But I think he looked at Levanov as a guy who’s already state side already, you know, it’s not going to be a problem getting him into the NHL. Um, so if it was maybe if he was split between the two, that was kind of the deciding factor because look, you get the number two pick, you don’t know you’re going to pick third overall this year because he probably had some idea two summers ago that he was going to sign some veterans and make the team better. They weren’t better, but I think he knew what his plan was going to be and expected more last year. So there’s a lot more than just I think it was more than just a coin flip between the two guys or he believed that Levanov was better than Demov. It’s it’s probably not that simple. And I think as a GM looking at look, I got the number two overall pick here. We might never pick this high again. I have to get a guy I know is going to be here. It’s too big of a risk. It’s too big of a risk to take Demov and maybe he never comes to the United States and it really derails the rebuild. That’s pro. Maybe that was unlikely, but it wasn’t a 0% chance. So, I think in his mind, and I’d like to ask him this someday, and he probably wouldn’t answer it on the record, but maybe off, like, was he concerned about Demidov never coming here? Um, and I think that might have played played a role, too. So, I don’t know. Who knows? Yeah. And then that’s why you try to get both. You try to get you try to get Dem. But see, I think maybe part of the and I think maybe a fair criticism would be, well, why not take Demov at two and then trade up for Lefchov later? Maybe you feel like Lefchov would have slipped a little more than Demidov would have. I don’t know. Hindsight’s always 2020. Um, but I’m excited that Lechnov’s here. I think he’s going to be really good. And I hope that this year Lev’s play um eases the minds of some of those people that are still hung up on Demov because look, it’s it’s not going to get undone. Um so you might as well just enjoy Lefchov while he’s here. It’s not it’s not fair to Levchenov to be down on him because he’s not Ivan Deanov. Yeah. You don’t Yeah. Um the the comparisons now, you can’t go back in time and change anything. So you want to root for the success of uh Ardum Levinov. But yeah, I mean I I I feel like given the question that if you knew Renzel was this guy, it would it would change things. I think I think it would change probably that order of things. It probably would have changed the Well, okay. If maybe we roll the dice and the sweetener is adding Levchov to our defensive group, let’s roll the dice on that, but let’s make sure we get Demodov rather than the inverse of well, we need that defenseman. Let’s get Lev and see what we can do to try and get Demodov. I think it I in my opinion if I was in that spot, I feel like that would have changed how I would have gone gone about things. Would you give up what ended up becoming Anton Fondell and I don’t know what the second round pick was but would you have given up that uh or no it would have been Fondell a second and I believe B for Fondell a second Fondell Gu and the second round pick that they had this year which they traded up to get Nester, I believe. Yeah, I I think I would I think I would I think what what what you’ve seen Demidov do since the draft I would do that. Yeah, but can’t no can’t change the past. Um, young Dangle God is back on his game. Dollar super chat. If we add Capriov and a top six pick next summer, we should be a playoff team. Also, you can’t forget the most impactful 2026 offseason move of all, resigning Kanor. There he goes and he chips. Is that a Is that a one-day contract? Oh, yeah. Maybe retires. Are you going to play in the PTO? Is he going to get Grizzl? Yeah, maybe that’s what the Hawks are doing for Matt Grizzlick. He’s trying to sell some tickets for the preseason. Yeah. And all his Chicago connections. Yeah. I don’t know. Um I don’t know. You know, the more time that goes by, I don’t think it’s impossible that Kane that Kane finishes his career here, but I don’t even want to light that fuse for Hawks fans because he might as well. Yeah, screw it. What’s What’s one more bring Kane back before training camp starts? Another dollar. Yeah, that’s true. That’s what we like. We got some more. Let’s go. Two more. All right. Ryan C says, “We talked about our all-time favorite superstar players, but let’s flip that on its head. Who is your all-time Blackhawks lineup for being bad? Three forwards, two defenseman, and one goalie. These can be guys who are straight up bad or guys that just simply underperform what they were here. My six are Jack Skilly, Dylan Secura, Dale Whis, Alexander Carpat, Jared Tenori, and Anton Hudobin. Anton Hudobin. Who do good? Who could forget his one game with the Blackhawks and the six goals he gave up? I like that. So, uh, let’s see. My goal is be Marty Turko because when you talk about expectation versus reality, Marty Turko was really bad with the Hawks. So that’s my goalie. Um, how about Anders Ericson for defenseman? That’s the guy you traded Chris Chelios for and he turned into a giant nothing burger. Um, so I’ll say that. Um, Alexander Carpat has to be on there. I mean, may he rest in peace, but good lord, he sucked. Um h it’s hard enough with Paul Coffee on there too though because he played what like seven games. I think it was about eight. Eight or nine. Yeah. Um up front we’re just trying to think of like just bad guys. I mean Jack Skilly can’t be ignored. That was a first round pick. That was nothing. It’s a bust. Yeah. Um I would say Daniel Clearary is up there cuz and then he went to Detroit and turned into a decent player which is extra frustrating. So, I need one more. Trying to think of like a signing that just totally Oh, Theo Flurry just completely didn’t work. Just completely did not work here for several reasons. Wasn’t the Doug Gilmore signing kind of bad or was it okay at first and then went sideways? The Hawks were bad, but he actually kind of performed as expected. And then the other one most recent is, you know, Taylor Hall came in with a lot of expectation that injury just didn’t allow him to do anything. He hurt a lot. Yeah. that Pip Hastings is really trying to make you upset. Yeah. No, Alex Janov was good for the Hawks. He was a captain of this team and just wasn’t as good as Ronic. Again, it’s very much the similar. It’s like the Lev Demov thing. Don’t hate Alex Yamnov because he was traded for Jeremy Ronic. It’s not his fault. Yeah. Uh yeah, I’m going to have Theo Flurry up front. um in net and Hudobin’s a really good that’s a good poll. I did I do appreciate that he got red electrical tape to make his pads look right. He sure did. Um yeah, I’ll I’ll agree on that. Hudoin one. Um Theo Flurry. Uh TJ Brody. See, did anyone really expect no much greatness out of that? No. I think you were just kind of disappointed because you kind of saw what it was going to be anyways and then it turned out to be basically what it was, right? Um, yeah, Taylor Hall is a good one. Trying to think who else. Um, all right. Now Pips, now Pips is trying to piss off. Yeah, now he’s now he’s Can you give him like a fiveminute ban? Bring the hammer down. Um, I’ll say post20 goal season. Andreasu. Oh yeah, that’s one that’s just like remember he was on the team last year. Yeah. Giggity says Jason Colmore. That’s a good one. Yeah. Yeah. That was the big uh that was the big he just won a cup. Let’s give him all the money contract. John Clem was one of those guys too who the Hawks signed to be a number one defenseman. That is such a Bill Word signing. John Clem. John Clem is like Conor Murphy. Yeah. and you brought him in to be like your number one. Like no, that’s just not who that’s not who he is. Wouldn’t do that. Yeah, that’s a that’s that’s tough cuz you could cuz I mean there’s a lot of like just you know personal guys that were just frustrating to watch. Um but yeah, shout out to those players and their contributions to the Blackhawks. Yes, Blackhawks legends. All of them. Brandon Manning. Yep. That’s that’s definitely one from Winding City Hockey. Yeah, one of the darlings of the summer of 2017 free agent class along with Chris Kunitz and Cam Ward. Hey, he wanted a veteran scorer, a stay-at-home defenseman, and a veteran goalie. And he got all Quinnville asked for and he got all three. Yeah. All right. Chris Kunit, by the way, still part of the coaching staff. What a gig. Yeah, man. You know, just sit around, pass some pucks around. All you got to do is win win four Stanley Cups. That’s it. That’s all it takes and then you can just be the the puck passer. Another super chat, uh, Au101 says, “Leino will be significantly better than Demadov. I like your optimism.” I hope you’re right. And Ira says, “Hey fellas, I never forget about you guys. Will preseason games be televised.” Uh, I think so. We don’t have a TV schedule, but CHSN exists. And what else have they brought? I mean, the Socks are on, but they got a plus. Socks games. They’ve got a plus channel. So, I I would imagine, don’t take this to the bank yet, but I would imagine the home games will be televised. And I’d hope the road games have some sort of either simal cast or that they treat them as, yeah, we’ll go televised the preseason games. We’ll see. Uh, here we go. CHSN says on the 23rd, Hawks Red Wings will be televised. That’s the first. We’re going through their schedule here. This website is wonderful. Um, see 25th. What’s the next Hawks game? You got the schedule in front of you? The preseason schedule? Uh, I do. Does that have to go day by Oh, here. Hawks and Blues will be on CHSN plus. That’s on the 27th. So, they go three road games and then three home games. 28th. That will be on CHSN Plus against the Wild. 27th, 28th, 30th. 30th. Hawks and Red Wings will be on CHSN October 3rd and 4th. October 3rd. Wild and Hawks. CHSN October 4th, Saturday, the Blues. Blues at Hawks on CHSN. There you go. So, yes, they should all be on TV. Yes. So, there you go. Good. And then the regular season starts. All right. We have one more uh one more email to get to. This from Windy City Sports Fan. I have a two-part series to better understand what it’s like to be a journalist since you were both fans when you became journalists. I know you’re still fans, but it must be different since your job revolves around the Hawks while I just watched them as a fan. As a journalist, what aspects do you miss as a fan? Conversely, what do you appreciate more now than when you were a fan? It’s funny, we were just having this conversation last night as well. Um, one of the things that I miss about being a fan, but that I really haven’t experienced in at least 10 years, maybe more, um, is turning it off. I I cannot turn off the NHL and the Blackhawks. And that’s a blessing and a curse because I would love to just be able to come home, turn on the game, watch the game, be happy or sad, turn the game off, and then then that’s it. And then I, you know, keep up with news with various outlets, you know, CHGO and the Athletic and just whatever. And then watch the game, turn it off. And I just I don’t I don’t have that ability anymore. And I’m grateful that I don’t because it’s become a career, right? Um, but I also do just miss like that experience of a fan consumer. What I like is that being able to, you know, have the access that we have and have some some of the conversations that we’ve been able to have is just kind of have that behindthe-scene understanding of like, okay, these are just people. The athletes are not Yes. Like the like like these guys, they’re not these on a pedestal uh like icons. They’re people who are really good at sports. Well, I think too, like when you think about coaches and and executives and GMs, like they’re also just people. They’re like they’re not perfect. They’re not, you know, I think there there’s this perception of uh like let’s talk about Bill Wartz as an example. And and like there’s going to be a percentage of Hawks fans that Raz me on this. Like from all reports, Bill Wartz was a wonderful guy. like in terms of just treating his friends and his family and people he knew like really liked him. He was a bad owner. He did not understand how to market his team. He was a cheapkate. Like all these all the things that about Bill Wartz are true, but there was this image of Bill Wartz is just like how can I screw over the fence? Like Ebenezer Scrooge must that’s just not real. And some of the social media things I’ve seen about current Hawks leadership is so wild and wacky and crazy and unhinged. It’s like they’re just moms and dads and husbands and wives and sons and daughters that that have a job. Like there’s just not this deep conspiracy to screw you over to make your Hawks experience miserable. Like it’s just they’re just people doing their best most of the time. Do I think there are people in this world that are pure evil? Yes. Oh yeah, I do. I think there are people that get off on pissing people off. Yes. Turn to Twitter and find out. It’s really easy to find those people. But for the most part, 99% of people are just doing their best and are just trying to get by dayto-day. and whether they’re making, you know, seven figures or they’re making $30,000, whatever it might be, I think everyone’s just trying to do their best. Everybody’s normal. Like, I don’t know. I I that to me is something that this job has revealed to me is like, oh, okay. It’s like just a guy. He’s just a person or they’re just a person. con being able to talk with like Nick Felino and Alex Vassic in the in the ways that we have over the last two years is is one of those things that kind of like opened it up for me of just like oh like yeah like they’re they they play the games they they go to practice they talk to us in the media but then they like go to the grocery store Alex had to like figure out like what pair of shoes he needed to pack for had to learn how to take the garbage out. Yeah. Right. like, you know, like Nick Nick Felino would we’d be like, man, he hasn’t talked in like a couple of days after practice. Oh, well, he’s probably on kid pickup duty. That makes sense. Like, he’s got to get out of here at, you know, noon or whatever. So, um, yeah, it just kind of like I I feel like for me being in this in this position has kind of peeled back the curtain in a way that it’s just like I don’t have that like shiny athlete image of like of like, oh my god, I couldn’t I couldn’t possibly have a conversation with Jonathan Taes or Patrick Kane. Like at this point, we’ve talked to Marian and Hosa and Cory Crawford and Duncan Keith and it’s just like, oh yeah, you could just talk to these people. Like it’s just they’re just normal. Yeah. Well, I think what’s fascinating about what you guys do also is that you’re right, like as a fan when you turn on the TV, you sit down and you go, well, it’s time for Connor Baddard to be awesome. Where is my goal from Connor Baddard tonight? When it doesn’t happen sometimes, as a fan, you’re upset. Especially if you pay your price to get into the stadium, you get upset. But what you guys do is you try and lean into the imperfection and the fascination of why did it not work tonight? Why is he working so hard to get it right? And the small little details and journey that these guys do to hopefully get to greatness or just, you know, sometimes remain imper imperfect or get become Jack Skilly. You know what I mean? One of the two. We’re going to go over time here. So if you’re watching us on the It’s no big deal today. Oh, sweet. Fine. We’re still here. Okay. Um, I also think too like I I texted my cousins on Sunday morning. Time for the Bears to dictate my mood for the next week and like we there Adam and uh and Karma were having a Adam who calls them Adam Hog and Karma having a conversation which one in the hallway uh about like the mood in the Hawks locker room or the Bears locker room and like why are guys smiling? Why? It’s just a job. And like right I the movie Fever Pitch, which is I I don’t know why I like it so much, but I do. There’s this moment where Jimmy Fallon is in uh the Red Sox just lost game six of the World Series, and he’s heartbroken like, “Oh, they’re going to lose it again. They’re going to blow it again.” And they go out to a bar and like Johnny Damon and Jason Veretch are out having dinner and he’s like, “Here we are tearing our tearing our hair out. We’re crying. We’re upset. We’re getting hammered. These three guys are just having dinner talking and laughing. Like it’s just that’s just what it is. Imagine how exhausted you would be if you lost a really tough game and then you spent every second of the next 24 to 48 hours literally thinking only about those mistakes. You would be exhausted. Insane. And you have to back away and then you have to like then like reel it back in and then get back into the details. What did uh didn’t Joe Madden say? I forget what the time limit he put on it, but it was like the 20-minute rule, the two-hour rule. Like you’re allowed to be mad about an outcome for two hours and it’s time to move on. Yeah. Whatever the time frame you put on. And also like never let the pressure uh exceed the pleasure. Yeah. Right. Like it’s just And I’ll say too like personally for me for a long time I struggled with so I went from fan to journalist very quickly because when I was at the score the Hawks got good overnight air quotes in the minds of a lot of people and they needed someone to do it and I was there. So, I I was sort of just because I had the knowledge and had the uh I’d been following the team so closely, I was the one to to get all these opportunities at the score for the cup run. Um, which I then parlayed into this, which is great. But I really early on struggled with, okay, well, now I have to be fully objective and I have to strip away all the fandom and I can’t cheer and I had and I almost I think I almost went like too far that way sometimes to try to prove my objectivity. And I think what I like about this job is it has allowed me to lean into both sides of it where I can I think that we do a good job of covering this team like journalists. Like if there’s good news, if there’s bad news, we’re going to tell you about it. We’re going to tell you what we honestly feel about it, but we’re also not going to hide the fact that we want them to win, right? Like when the Hawks lose a game, we’re pissed and that’s real, but it doesn’t change the way we cover the team. I I hope I don’t I don’t feel like it does. I don’t feel like I ask questions differently because, you know, I’m rooting for Frank Nazar to score. So, if Nazar has three turnovers, I’m not going to not ask him about those. You know what I mean? Like, I think that we cover the team in a fair way. And I think that and I I can speak for Martin. I think I can speak for Greg too that we cover the team the way that we would want it to be covered. And this is not aimed at anyone on the beat right now, but I think for a long time the Hawks beat in general was a stepping stone to a bigger beat. So a lot of the people that covered the Blackhawks and maybe still do this, that’s not their endgame. They’re trying to get to the Bears or the Bulls or the Cubs or the Socks or whatever it might be. Like very few people said, “When I grow up, I want to cover hockey.” And what a shot at Phil Thompson. It really is. Phil Thompson, him and his cake eating ways now with the Bears. No, but like for real. And it’s not a knock. That’s just reality that I want to be a sports journalist. I start Oh my god, I got a job at the Tribune. That’s amazing. All right, I got to cover the Hawks for a few years. Great. I’ll work my way up. There’s nothing wrong with that. You actually shouldn’t want the majority of your journalists rooting for the team. But I think that we are I think we are in such a unique place uh where we’re at where we don’t have to deny. And does it cost us a PWA card? Yeah. Yeah. It’s okay. Okay. You know, would I like to have a vote for the Norris and the Heart and all those things? Of course I would. But I’d rather have my dream job, which I have right now, and cover this team in a way with passion where people that listen to us and watch us know that we’re as invested in it as they are. And we have the access to ask the questions they want asked. Mhm. Instead of just like power play was over three. What happened? Okay. You know, and that’s it. Like we actually think about it and care about it and and we’re forced to as well because of the job. But like I think we’re in such a good cool place because we’re able to approach it from a place of passion. This is what we want to do. This is what we strive to do our whole lives. And now we’re here. So, I think we’re giving people exactly the coverage they want. Yeah. And we get to live and die with them, too, which is the best of both worlds. Yeah. And I And I think I think people I hope appreciate that is that we we will lean into the good, the fandom, but not in a way that just completely washes out anything that’s negative or anything that’s, you know, trying, you know, if you want to talk objectively about the team. It’s just we’re not just going to be like, well, no, of course the Hawks are going to be playoff playoff contenders. They’re going to do it this year. Like if like if we if we did that 247, we would just be homers, stumpers. It’d be a bunch of bunch of Braggs over here. Yeah. But um but Braggs is real, too. But yeah, I mean that’s what makes him great. Exactly. Um but yeah, I I I think I think it’s it’s an interesting position. I will say because of being in the in the position that we’re in, for me personally and also because we’re on TV now, um my vocabulary has changed as a fan since since starting uh the the podcast. Um because gag nabbit. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of lots of gosh darn it. Lots of lots of darns uh and uh gee gollies. But yeah, I think that is that is probably something that is different between me on and off the podcast and I think you can attest to that for times we’ve watched. I think I think watching road games here though there is some salty language sometimes. But I mean that’s that’s where you know the most flag flying we can do. Yes. Swears and senos that’s your average rodeo. [Laughter] All right. All right. Well, there you go. There’s six extra minutes of showtime for you everybody. Do us a favor. Hit that like button on your way. Say we never do nothing for you. That’s right. And uh we’re almost there. We’re almost there. I’m going to make a bold prediction. Oh, by this time, well, by 2:00 tomorrow, Wyatt Kaiser will have a new contract. You think? This is my prediction. Yes, this is my prediction. What happens if it doesn’t come true? We call them a mini mugggin is what we do. I get a pay raise. Oh, sorry. It’s only fair. Okay. Someone has to suffer. Yeah. Okay. Yep. I think that’s fair, Joey. Don’t you? That’s how it works. I’m going to make real crazy bold predictions then. All right. Well, thanks everybody for being here. Thanks for the great questions. We will talk to you tomorrow at 2 or maybe sooner if there’s breaking news. We’ll find out. Talk to you then on CHL Blackhawks. Whatever that’s about. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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We’re less than two days away from the opening of Blackhawks Training Camp, and we finally have schedules and rosters. We’ll share the info, analyze what Matt Grzelcyk’s PTO means, and more on today’s CHGO Blackhawks Podcast.

0:00 START
1:00 PTO contracts announced
5:00 Matt Grzelcyk signs a PTO
17:29 Camp Schedule
21:01 Tuesday Mailbag- Worst NHL Prospect Systems
27:11 Kaprisov rumors
34:28 The Hawks Win Timeline
41:10 Demidov vs Levshunov
48:05 All-time Bad Lineup
54:43 Journalism vs Fandom

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