I’m still trying to piece myself together a little bit today after learning of the passing of Troy Murray. We had a unique relationship. He would always give me an elbow to the ribs when he walked by and smile over his shoulder, making sure it found the mark. If he beat me into the press box for a home game, I would find a small cup of either popcorn or gummy bears at my seat. My spot in the box is the closest to the radio booth, so I would look over and he’d wink at me thru the window. There were other incredibly special moments between us. He was truly one of one.
If you get a chance, listen to the tremendous tribute put together by Peggy Kusinski and Dionne Miller on ESPN 1000 yesterday. They spoke with Eddie Olczyk, Pat Foley, Bob Verdi and Denis Savard. Just be prepared to cry. There were so many other really special tributes on social media yesterday from current and former (still active) Blackhawks, his former teammates, the NHL teams he played for, Hockey Canada, and the University of North Dakota. I’ll just leave you with three, but encourage you to do some wandering around social media.
Heaven just acquired one of the very, very best, and much too young. You fought like a lion. You lived life to its fullest. May you rest in peace Muzz. You will be remembered forever. Love ya.
pic.twitter.com/bWURkFvyoY
— Darren R Pang (@Panger40) March 7, 2026
- Here’s your striking number of the day, but it’s one that shouldn’t come as a huge surprise: the Chicago Blackhawks are now the youngest team in the NHL. And they’re almost a half year younger than the next-youngest team. The Blackhawks also have the least NHL games experience in the league by a significant margin. I share this so when you’re throwing the remote at your television at times during the rest of the season you maybe remember there’s a learning curve taking place in real time.
- And the roster is going to get a couple more young faces in it tonight. Drew Commesso probably won’t be the starting goalie in Dallas (but tomorrow night at home is probable), but Nick Lardis figures to draw into the lineup so the Blackhawks can skate 12 forward and still sit Sam Lafferty (poor guy).
- It sounds like Roope Hintz is going to miss some time for Dallas because of an injury he suffered in their last game. Michael Bunting will make his Dallas debut against the Blackhawks tonight.
- Nathan Behm scored twice and added an assist in a big win last night for Kamloops. His second goal was the game-winner. Behm now has 82 points (36 goals, 46 assists) in 61 games in the WHL this season.
- In the college ranks, John Mustard had one assist as Providence rolled over UConn to close the books on a magnificent regular season for the Friars.
- Last night was a huge swing night in Hockey East. Václav Nestrašil had one assist as UMass beat New Hampshire 4-2. With that win, and a series of other teams losing, UMass flies up to the No. 2 seed in the Hockey East Tournament this week!
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Blackhawks fans continue to lose their **** that André Burakovsky remains in the lineup, and on Connor Bedard‘s wing for most of his ice time. The Blackhawks coaches continue to like what they’re seeing from Burakovsky, even if he has only one assist and only 17 shots on goal to show for his last 18 appearances (293:47 of ice time dating back to Jan. 9).
For the past couple months while we’ve all been on the Burakovsky Struggle Bus, the rationale for him remaining in the lineup and working his way out of the slump has been fairly simple: the Blackhawks need to get to the salary floor, and his $5.5M cap hit next season helps get there quicker.
However, his play has made it harder to project him into a role on next year’s Blackhawks, and his cap number makes it harder to move him (even if Chicago has two retention spots available next season and nobody else to use one on).
Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
When Andrew Mangiapane entered the chat, things got a little more interesting. He plays a fast two-way game and has scored two goals since Burakovsky’s last marker. He doesn’t have two championship rings at home, but he did arrive with a $3.6M cap commitment thru next year.
If the Blackhawks buy out Burakovsky, his cap number drops from $5.5M to $3M for the 2026-27 season, which is slightly higher than trading him at 50 percent retention. Burakovsky would carry over $1.25M in cap hit to the 2027-28 season in the event he’s bought out this summer.
I’m not saying the Blackhawks have any plans of buying anyone out right now. And Burakovsky could turn things around in the fourth quarter of the season and make things interesting this summer and in training camp. We’ve seen crazier scenarios play out (just go watch some of the ways Bears games ended this past season).
But Mangiapane at minimum gives the Blackhawks another veteran forward option with a cap commitment attached for next season — and that should put some pressure on Burakovsky to earn his spot in the lineup.
After the chaotic NHL Trade Deadline on Friday that saw captain Nick Foligno leave, the Blackhawks called Nick Lardis and goaltender Drew Commesso up from Rockford after practice on Saturday to join the team for the back-to-back in Dallas and then home against Utah. There was some excitement to get a more extended look from Lardis, whose offense could help the Hawks down the stretch.
After getting on the ice for only 10:08 in Dallas, Lardis only skated 7:18 on Monday night — which doesn’t make a portion of the Blackhawks’ fan base happy. He had two shot attempts and one individual scoring chance in his limited ice time against the Mammoth.
I get it. Lardis is a talented sniper who can put the puck in the net and what do we want more than to see the next generation of Blackhawks scoring goals, right?
Would I prefer we see more of Lardis? Absolutely. But there are a few factors to keep in mind.
First, the Blackhawks like having Ryan Greene on Connor Bedard‘s wing for two reasons: he’s good there, and he can take/win a faceoff if Bedard gets tossed out of the circle. Of course on the other wing is André Burakovsky… which will remain a point of contention even though he finally scored on Monday night. But against some more physical teams like Dallas and Utah, having a veteran on that line makes sense.
Similarly, obviously the line of Tyler Bertuzzi, Frank Nazar and Teuvo Teräväinen has been good when they’ve been together this year.
Second, in the wake of the Blackhawks trading away Foligno, Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach, the dust is still settling on what a lineup could be. The Blackhawks coaches want to experiment with Andrew Mangiapane skating on a line with Ilya Mikheyev to see if there’s something there. I, like the coaches, like the early returns of that duo. They were really good against Utah.
Now let’s layer onto those thoughts the unfortunate development that Oliver Moore left Lardis’ first game back with the Blackhawks early because of an injury — one that might end his rookie season prematurely.
In a perfect world, I would love to see Lardis and Moore spend time together. If that’s with Landon Slaggert, fine. He attacks pucks and he’s hard to play against. If that’s with Ryan Donato, also a solid option.
But the injury to Moore meant Donato was skating between Mikheyev and Mangiapane, leaving Lardis to get table scraps with Slaggert and Sam Lafferty.
Moore’s injury may make for an intriguing situation, however. As Hockey East’s conference tournament begins this week, the end of Sacha Boisvert‘s collegiate career may come soon. A door may have just opened for him to get some NHL run this season to start his professional career. And that might come with Lardis on his wing — which could be fun to watch.
Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Tracey Myers at NHL.com wrote about the obvious move the Blackhawks will make this summer (after signing him to healthy extension): Connor Bedard will be the team’s next captain. All signs point to that, and he had a great opportunity to learn from one of the most respected leaders in the game in Nick Foligno to start his NHL career.
Here’s what Bedard told Tracey about his approach to leadership (as a 20-year-old):
- Here’s what Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said about Bedard as a leader when he spoke with the media following the NHL Trade Deadline on Friday:
- Bedard was really, really good last night. It was one of his better performances of the entire season. He led the Blackhawks with 11 shot attempts and 7 individual scoring chances, and Bedard’s 88.61 on-ice expected goals percentage at 5-on-5 was his highest of the season. He was also credited with four hits and won 7 of 14 faceoffs in the game. And picked up two more assists. Bedard now has four points in his last four games (two multi-point games).
- There were two pretty impressive redemption moments in last night’s game. The first game from a guy who’s been under fire from Blackhawks fans for weeks. After André Burakovsky whiffed on a wide open net on the power play, he was able to finally get on the board. He denied that it was a lacrosse-style goal after the game, only giving himself credit for “Half one?” But his relief was still overflowing after the game.
- I want you to look at the uncropped version of the image I used for our postgame last night. The elation on the face of Burakovsky was understandable. But look at Bedard in the lower left corner. Everyone in red was so visibly happy for him to finally get that monkey off his back.
Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
- The other redemption came much quicker — and it came from one of the hottest Blackhawks right now. Frank Nazar, who had the pass to Burakovsky that he whiffed on, had a pretty big hiccup of his own in overtime.
- Moments later, Nazar got another look and didn’t miss. To borrow from the great philosopher Harry Dunne, he went and totally redeemed himself.
- In 21 appearances between Dec. 2 and March 1, Nazar had two goals and five assists.
- In his last four appearances, Nazar has two goals and four assists. And I think he’s got his swagger back.
Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
- I asked Drew Commesso after the game if it was nice having so many familiar faces from Rockford around him in the Blackhawks’ lineup. His response was another reminder of how the Blackhawks are investing not only in players developing into impactful NHL players, but also in their relationships with each other.
- It’s little plays like this that make me think there might be something there with Ryan Greene riding shotgun on Bedard’s line. He’s such a smart player, but there’s going to come at time soon where this is a goal. Heck, this probably should have been if not for a ridiculous save!
- The tributes in the radio booth last night were incredibly touching. John Wiedeman brought the beautiful bouquet back from Dallas with him to join two arrangements in the booth with a red Centennial sweater bearing Troy Murray’s name and number. John worked with Troy for so long, I really don’t know how he kept his composure to call a terrific game last night. He’s a rock. But, as he said, that’s what Troy would have wanted from us: to get on with the hockey. And it warmed my heart to see Nick Olczyk in the press box last night as well.
- Finally, I just want to shoutout Darren Pang. He and Troy were close friends, and he’s been asked to handle the national desk for TNT on Sunday night and then work between the benches on an emotional night in Chicago last night. The tears were real. This was a tough one for a lot of people in the United Center last night because Troy was so universally loved. But Panger was the guy who had to say it into a mic with a TV camera on him. And he did a magnificent job. Much love, Panger. Well done.
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- Baseball America dropped their first 2026 MLB Mock Draft of the season
- Bulls Fans’ guide to the Big Ten Conference Tournament
- The Bears helped their defense, signing LB Devin Bush and S Coby Bryant
As I wrote in our Hockey East Tournament preview, Boston University’s first round playoff game is scheduled for this evening against Patrick Sharp’s Vermont Catamounts. Here’s the lineup they posted earlier this evening for the game:
Source: Twitter
You might notice a name missing: Blackhawks prospect Sacha Boisvert. He’s a healthy scratch tonight for the Terriers. Of course that’s driving a lot of speculation that Boisvert, who’s been open about his intention of turning pro after this season, could be joining the Blackhawks sooner than later.
We’ll have to wait to see if Boisvert signs soon. If Boston University loses tonight, they have no chance of making the NCAA tournament and Boisvert could theoretically sign any time.
Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill had an interesting answer to a question about Ryan Greene‘s long-term roster fit after practice on Wednesday. The question came off the assumption that Greene has been viewed as Jason Dickinson’s most likely successor as the Blackhawks’ shut-down center.
Obviously missing from that list of center options is Connor Bedard, who seems to be locked into the Blackhawks’ top line center spot for the foreseeable future.
Blashill has talked about how much more comfortable and effective Moore has been at center vs. on the wing. And I will also note that we’ve previously talked about the fact that Nazar’s play really took off at the World Championship last year when USA Hockey moved him to the wing… which is noteworthy because current Blackhawks assistant coach Mike Vellucci was on that coaching staff.
However, the part of Blashill’s answer that got my attention was the mention of Kantserov playing center in the KHL this season. I shared an interview the 21-year-old gave back in January in which he talked about his production really taking off this season since he moved to the middle; he leads the KHL in goals.
Sacha Boisvert and AJ Spellacy have also spent a good portion of their seasons playing center, but weren’t mentioned by Blashill. Spellacy specifically did a nice job at center for the USA at the World Juniors, and has already signed his entry-level contract. There’s a lot of buzz around Boisvert’s immediate future after he was scratched by Boston University on Wednesday night.
Corinne Votaw-Imagn Images
Entering Thursday night’s game in Utah, here are the centers who remain on the Blackhawks’ roster with their total number of faceoffs and win percentage thus far this season:
Total Faceoffs Faceoff % Ryan Greene 675 44.3 Frank Nazar 614 46.1 Connor Bedard 406 45.3 Ryan Donato 233 48.5 Oliver Moore 205 48.3
Since Jan. 1, the numbers have shifted a bit. Only three remaining Blackhawks — Greene, Nazar and Moore — have taken at least 100 faceoffs since the start of the calendar year.
Bedard didn’t take many faceoffs in January when he came back from his shoulder injury, but had returned to the dot since the Olympic break. Even though Greene took most of the faceoffs, once the puck was on the ice Bedard was effectively playing center for that line.
Nazar been getting increasingly comfortable in his first full NHL season, and it’s showing at the dot. Since Jan. 1, Nazar has taken 201 faceoffs and won 52.2 percent of them. Nazar’s winning 52.4 of his faceoffs since the Olympic break.
Moore’s injury likely opens the door for Boisvert to potentially get a look at center down the stretch whenever he signs.
These are all questions that won’t be answered overnight. But the lineups we could see with young guys playing down the middle in training camp in September could make for a lot of fun conversation.
