Arbitration hearings are scheduled and approaching quickly. The Chicago Blackhawks learned the date for their lone arbitration case, while a Western Conference foe avoided a hearing with one of their top young players. Let’s get to those Hump Day Chirps!

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Blackhawks Chirps

The folks at PuckPedia provided the dates for a few of the NHL arbitration hearings, including Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom. His hearing is set for July 28. However, the Blackhawks and Soderblom can come to an agreement at any time before this date. AFP Analytics projects his next deal to be a two-year contract with a $1.7 million salary cap hit.

Former Blackhawks forward Luke Philp has signed with Farjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League. The 29-year-old played in three games for the Blackhawks during the 2022-23 season, picking up one assist in his only career NHL stint. That same season, he scored 29 goals and 53 points for the Rockford IceHogs. Injuries limited him to just 15 games for the IceHogs the following year. Philp spent last season with the Hershey Bears, scoring 10 goals and 30 points in 58 games.

On this date in 1957, the Blackhawks acquired Hall of Famers Ted Lindsay and Glenn Hall from the Detroit Red Wings for forwards Forbes Kennedy and Johnny Wilson, defenseman Bill Preston, and goaltender Hank Bassen. Lindsay scored 29 goals and 84 points in his two seasons with the Blackhawks. He retired in 1960 but returned to Detroit for the 1964-65 season. Hall became one of the best netminders in league history over the next decade, earning the nickname “Mr. Goalie.” He started every single game during his first five seasons in Chicago. He went 276-229-107 with a .916 SV%, 2.60 GAA, and 51 shutouts.

In 1994, Bob Probert signed with the Blackhawks, ending his nine-season run with the Red Wings. However, he was placed on inactive status by commissioner Gary Bettman in September of 1994, while he entered rehab and missed the entire 1994-95 season. Probert’s first season in Chicago was his best with the Blackhawks, scoring 19 goals and 40 points. He played 461 games with the Blackhawks, just 13 fewer than he did for the Red Wings, but scored 134 fewer points.

Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, July 23: Johnny Sheppard, Dennis Bonvie, and Shawn Thornton.

NHL Chirps

The Seattle Kraken avoided arbitration with winger Kaapo Kakko, as they agreed to a three-year contract with a $4.525 million salary cap hit. The 24-year-old scored a career-high 44 points last season with the New York Rangers and Kraken. He scored 10 goals and 30 points in his 49 games with Seattle after being acquired in mid-December.

Slovakia has named Vladimir Orszach head coach for the 2026 Winter Olympics. He was the interim head coach after taking over for Craig Ramsay midway through last year. Ramsay led Slovakia to the bronze medal at the 2022 Olympics, which had no NHL involvement. Erik Cernak, Martin Fehervary, Simon Nemec, Martin Pospisil, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Tomas Tatar have already been named to their roster.

Multiple recent reports have indicated that former San Jose Sharks forward Kevin Labanc is heading to Russia next season. San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng confirmed with his agent, Mike Curran, that Labanc is not going to the KHL. He is fully recovered from a shoulder injury that limited the 29-year-old to 34 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets last season.

Speaking of the Blue Jackets, Brian Hedger of The Columbus Dispatch feels they will have no problem facilitating a trade for forward Yegor Chinakov. They will have a much easier time than they did a year ago with Patrick Laine, who was making $6.6 million more than Chinakov.

NHL Birthday Roll Call, July 23: Red Dutton, Dmitri Khristich, Andrew Cassels, Scott Clemmensen, Dmitry Orlov, and Kasperi Kapanen.