Morning Chirps: 4 Nations Drama as NHL Returns to Practice

The Chicago Blackhawks returned to practice after their nine-day break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. They will have a busy weekend with a road game at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday before returning home to host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday. Tuesday was an off day for the 4 Nations Face-Off but that didn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of drama to go around. Let’s start chirping!

Blackhawks Chirps

Nick Foligno and Anders Sorensen saw many good things heading into the break and are confident the Blackhawks can pick up right where they left off. Get all the talk straight out of the locker from yesterday’s practice update.
Per Jeff Agrest of the Chicago Sun-Times, Sunday’s game against Toronto has been switched to ESPN+ and HULU after initially scheduled to be a CHSN game. Mike Monaco and Ryan Callahan will be on the call.
Dominik Kahun has signed a three-year contract with Lausanne HC of the Swiss National League. In his first NHL season with the Blackhawks in 2018-19, he scored 13 goals and 37 points while playing in all 82 games. The following offseason, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenseman Olli Maatta. Kahun will join Brendan Perlini, another former Blackhawk, who signed with the team last week.
On this date in 2019, Patrick Kane lit the lamp in his hometown during a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. The tally made him the first U.S.-born player to score at least 20 goals in each of his first 10 NHL seasons.

4 Nations Chirps

There is only one game left in the 4 Nations Face-off, but there has been plenty of drama leading up to Thursday’s championship game between the United States and Canada. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy will not play in Thursday’s game. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports he is week-to-week after undergoing a procedure to cut out and clean an infection.
Due to McAvoy’s injury, Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes reportedly made his way to Boston. However, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman later revealed that Hughes was Canucks practice sporting a non-contact jersey. He reported that Hughes will not join Team USA unless there’s a realistic chance he will play. Who knows, maybe another blue liner will mysteriously catch that flu bug that was going around Sweden’s locker room.
According to the NHL, 10.1 million viewers across North America watched Saturday’s big game. This was a 203% increase from the USA vs. Canada game at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the most-watched non-Stanley Cup Final game since 2014.

NHL Chirps

The Nashville Predators have been the biggest disappointment of the 2024-25 NHL season. After a huge offseason that saw them add free agents Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei, they have toiled at the bottom of the standings all season long. Today, they announced that defenseman Jeremy Lauzon will miss the rest of the season with a lower-body injury. He initially suffered the injury on Nov. 25 and missed 10 games before returning and reinjuring himself on Dec. 31.
The Predators also acquired forward Grigori Denisenko from the Vegas Golden Knights and assigned the 24-year-old to the Milwaukee Admirals. He was initially taken 15^th overall by the Panthers in 2018 but has never gotten his professional career on track.
It was a busy day for the Canucks, in addition to the Hughes drama. First, they announced a two-year, $5 million contract extension with forward Drew O’Connor. He and defenseman Marcus Pettersson were acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this month, and now they have both signed new deals. Later in the day, Thomas Drance reported that goaltender Thatcher Demko will not join the team on their upcoming five-game road trip. He is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
According to The Athletic’s Ryan Nugent-Bowman, Matthew Savoie will join the Edmonton Oilers on their upcoming road trip and make his NHL debut. Edmonton acquired the ninth overall pick of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft last summer from the Buffalo Sabres for veteran Ryan McLeod. Savoie is having a great season in the AHL with 13 goals and 37 points in 45 games, including 10 points in his last 10 outings.
Suddenly, the New Jersey Devils are dealing with a rash of injuries as they placed goaltender Jacob Markstrom and defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler on injured reserve. James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now got all the reactions from their first practice.