{"id":554542,"date":"2026-04-17T13:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/554542\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T13:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:12:16","slug":"morning-chirps-moore-heads-to-world-championships-game-1-schedules-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/554542\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Chirps: Moore heads to World Championships, Game 1 schedules set"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5k\">The offseason is officially here for the Chicago Blackhawks. There are no National Hockey League games tonight, but the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin tomorrow. The best time of year is only a day away! <\/p>\n<p>Blackhawks ChirpsJohn Bloomer tells us that Kyle Davidson\u2019s new contract extension is a sign that it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/blackhawkup.com\/kyle-davidsons-extension-signals-that-it-is-time-to-start-winning\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">time to start winning<\/a>. Davidson was among those who spoke with the media on Thursday. He\u2019ll have a lot of work to do this summer if he wants to have a roster that meets the <a href=\"https:\/\/blackhawkup.com\/blackhawks-raise-bar-playoffs-are-expectation\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">players\u2019 lofty expectations<\/a> of making the playoffs next year. Davidson will only have one first-round draft pick this year. With the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks winning their season finales, the Florida Panthers\u2019 pick will stay in the top 10, so they will keep it this season. The Blackhawks will get their unprotected pick in 2027, giving them three first-round picks for next year\u2019s draft. That is plenty of ammunition for a big offseason trade. We learned on Thursday that Oliver Moore will play for Team USA at next month&#8217;s IIHF World Championship. It remains to be seen if his teammates Frank Nazar and Alex Vlasic will join him. Anton Frondell said he will take part in a camp for Sweden\u2019s team. One has to think he has a very good shot at making the team. After the Brantford Bulldogs advanced to the Ontario Hockey League\u2019s Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday, the Windsor Spitfires punched their ticket to the Western Conference Finals last night. A.J. Spellacy was held off the scoresheet in the 5-3 victory over the Flint Firebirds to complete the four-game sweep. The Soo Greyhounds beat Jack Pridham and the Soo Greyhounds to fend off elimination for at least one more night. Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, April 17: Alex MiKinnon, Kent Paynter, and Roger Johnansson. NHL ChirpsThe New Jersey Devils <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NJDevils\/status\/2044917688246423580?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">hired Sunny Mehta<\/a> as their new general manager, replacing the recently fired Tom Fitzgerald. He\u2019s been the Panthers\u2019 Assistant General Manager and Director of Analytics since 2023. A New Jersey native, Mehta\u2019s first job in the NHL was as the Devils\u2019 Director of Hockey Analytics from 2014 to 2018. After numerous reports made the rounds early on Thursday, the Columbus Blue Jackets officially announced a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/bluejackets\/news\/blue-jackets-rick-bowness-to-return-as-coach-in-2026-27\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">one-year contract extension<\/a> for head coach Rick Bowness. Last night, the Mammoth became the first team in a full 82-game NHL season to not have a game decided in a shootout. The Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin this weekend, and the schedule for all eight Game 1s has been released:<br \/>Saturday<br \/>Ottawa Senators @ Carolina Hurricanes (2 pm CT, ESPN)<br \/>Minnesota Wild @ Dallas Stars (4:30 pm CT, ESPN)<br \/>Philadelphia Flyers @ Pittsburgh Penguins (7 pm CT, ESPN) <br \/>Sunday (time\/TV TBD)<br \/>Los Angeles Kings @ Colorado Avalanche<br \/>Montreal Canadiens @ Tampa Bay Lightning<br \/>Boston Bruins @ Buffalo Sabres<br \/>Utah Mammoth @ Vegas Golden Knights<br \/>Monday (time\/TV TBD)<br \/>Anaheim Ducks @ Edmonton OilersNHL Birthday Roll Call, April 17: Herbie Lewis, Gerry McNeil, Tommy Williams, Dennis Hextall, Borje Salming, Bob Gassoff, Jimmy Mann, Ken Daneyko, David Oliver, Eric Brewer, Chuck Kobasew, Brad Boyes, Pavel Buchnevich, and Michael Rasmussen. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow blackhawkup.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=blackhawkup.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The offseason is officially here for the Chicago Blackhawks. There are no National Hockey League games tonight, but&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5115],"tags":[521,37,96,5263,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-554542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-blackhawks","8":"tag-blackhawks","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","11":"tag-chicagoblackhawks","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116420224904252221","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}