Chicago Blackhawks

It appears the Colorado Avalanche are looking to make a significant acquisition ahead of the NHL trade deadline later this month. 

The Avalanche are reportedly one of the teams that have reached out to the Chicago Blackhawks to inquire about Patrick Kane, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. 

Pagnotta's comments come after NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that the Blackhawks had been receiving calls about Kane and his availability. 

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson told reporters earlier this week that the franchise was headed for a rebuild. In that case, veteran players like Kane, Jonathan Toews and Marc-Andre Fleury could be traded. 

Davidson said:

We’re going to look at more of a rebuild here. There are some things that we really need to fix that are going to take time. We're not going to put a timeline on it, whether it's three, five [years], I don’t have that answer right now. That will be determined as we proceed.

But we really need to do this the right way and we're going to stick to the plan and take our time with it and make sure that when we get to where we want to go, then it was the result of a plan that was stuck to and not deviated from.

The Blackhawks have not been competitive over the last few seasons, failing to qualify for the playoffs in three of the last four years. In addition, the team hasn't made it past the first round since defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals. 

Kane is arguably Chicago's most valuable asset, so it should come as no surprise that the franchise might be open to moving him. The 2007 first-overall pick has been a consistent scorer through his 15 seasons with the Blackhawks. In 1,080 career games, he's tallied 421 goals and 722 assists for 1,143 points. 

This season, the 33-year-old has 17 goals and 38 assists in 51 games. His goals would be tied for fifth on the Avalanche, while his 55 points would be tied for fourth. 

There's no question Kane would be a perfect fit on a championship contender like the Avalanche. However, it's unclear what Colorado would have to give up in order to land the three-time Stanley Cup champion. 

It would likely take at least a first-round pick, plus solid young players and prospects for Chicago to give up Kane. With the Avalanche owning the league's best record at 40-11-4 (84 points), it's unlikely they'd want to shake up their current roster. 

Colorado would also have to be willing to take on the remainder of Kane's eight-year, $84 million contract. The veteran is under contract through the 2022-23 season with a $10.5 million cap hit. It's unclear how the Avalanche would make room to accommodate his deal. According to CapFriendly, the team currently has just more than $777,000 in cap space. 

While Kane's name is being thrown around, the four-time All-Star told reporters Wednesday that it would be an honor for him to finish his career in Chicago. However, he also acknowledged the business side of things. 

There's probably a lot of time to determine what's going to happen in that regard, but let's be honest. I love Chicago, I love the city, I love the fans, the organization's been amazing to me and my family.

I think there's always business decisions. In the game of hockey, there's not many guys that play their whole career with one team. So it would be a privilege and an honor to do that. But I guess we'll see how it all plays out.

The trade deadline isn't until March 21. So, Kane should at least have a little longer in Chicago before potentially saying goodbye. 

Veteran right wing Patrick Kane is aware that he might be a candidate to be traded by the struggling Chicago Blackhawks at this year's deadline. But the 33-year-old is holding out hope that he gets to remain with the team that he's spent his entire career with.

"I think there's always business decisions," Kane said Wednesday. "In the game of hockey, there's not many guys that play their whole career with one team. So it would be a privilege and an honor to do that. But I guess we'll see how it all plays out."

Selected with the No. 1 overall pick by the Blackhawks in 2007, Kane has one year left on his contract after signing an eight-year extension in 2014. He is third in franchise history with 1,141 points (420 goals, 721 assists) behind legends Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull. Kane helped lead Chicago to three Stanley Cup victories in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

The Blackhawks are 19-27-8 and seventh in the Central Division entering Wednesday. General manager Kyle Davidson acknowledged that the team is exploring potential trades and no player is untouchable, including Kane.

"Any time you can have someone of Patrick's caliber and experience in your organization, then that's something that's very valuable," Davidson said Wednesday. "Again, we're going to have very honest conversations going forward and he'll know what we're thinking; I'm sure we'll know what he's thinking and we'll go from there. But having those people around is always a good thing."

He added: "I don't necessarily subscribe to the untouchable theory, because whether it's realistic or not, there's always a situation where you might get offered something that you can't turn down."

Despite the team's struggles this season, Kane said he's not concerned about the Blackhawks potentially undergoing a rebuild. 

"Whatever the lineup is, whatever the team looks like, you're going to go on the ice and try to win," he said. "That's something I think as players you don't worry about too much."

The Chicago Blackhawks announced Kyle Davidson as their full-time general manager Tuesday.

Scott Powers of The Athletic first reported Davidson landed the full-time job after serving as the interim general manager since replacing Stan Bowman, who resigned in October amid the fallout from an investigation into the team's handling of sexual assault allegations made against former assistant coach Brad Aldrich.

“The thorough process we undertook affirmed much of what we believed we had in Kyle, and he stepped up to lead and make tough decisions during his time in the interim role.” Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz said in a statement. “He without a doubt met every qualification we were looking for, is passionate about the game and represents the high character across everything we do."

Tampa Bay Lightning director of hockey operations Mathieu Darche and Chicago Cubs assistant general manager Jeff Greenberg were the other finalists for the job.

Davidson has been with the Blackhawks since 2010, working his way up from being an operations intern and video analyst all the way to the front office. He served as the assistant general manager under Bowman from 2019 until the former GM's departure, at which point he was given a chance at the interim role.

The Blackhawks are in the midst of a franchise-wide retooling, with their 19-27-8 record foreshadowing major changes likely coming across the roster. It's likely ownership felt they wanted to move forward with someone they're already comfortable with, and Davidson has a clear level of internal support.

Davidson showed decisiveness early in the season when he fired coach Jeremy Colliton after a 1-9-2 start and will likely continue reshaping the organization in his vision as the offseason commences this summer. 

The Chicago Blackhawks announced Monday that Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull has retired from his role as a team ambassador.

According to the Associated Press, the Blackhawks released a statement on Hull's retirement, saying: "When it comes to Bobby, specifically, we jointly agreed earlier this season that he will retire from any official team role."

Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito were named team ambassadors by the Blackhawks in 2008. Per the AP, the Blackhawks said they are now "redefining the role of team ambassador" following Mikita's death in 2018 and the passing of Esposito in August.

The 83-year-old Hull, who is the father of fellow Hall of Famer Brett Hull, is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in Blackhawks history.

However, since his retirement, he was convicted of assaulting a police officer in 1986 and accused of battery against his first wife Deborah. During a 2002 interview with ESPN, his second wife Joanne said he abused her.

In 15 seasons with the Blackhawks from 1957-1972, Hull recorded 604 goals and 549 assists for 1,153 points in 1,036 regular-season games.

Hull is the franchise's all-time leader in goals, fifth in assists and second to only Mikita in points.

He also appeared in 116 playoff games for the Blackhawks, racking up 62 goals and 67 assists for 129 points.

Nicknamed The Golden Jet, Hull 10-time First Team All-Star, three-time Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL's leading scorer, two-time Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP and one-time Stanley Cup winner.

Following his time with the Blackhawks, Hull spent eight seasons with the World Hockey Association's Winnipeg Jets, piling up 303 goals and 335 assists for 638 points in 411 games.

He also appeared in 27 games for the NHL's Jets and Hartford Whalers in 1979-80, which was his final professional season.

The Chicago Blackhawks fired head athletic trainer D.J. Jones from their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, in November following an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment from 2014.

Emily Kaplan and Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported a member of the IceHogs ice crew came forward with the allegations in October when the organization was under the spotlight for its past mishandling of sexual assault allegations following the release of a report from the law firm Jenner & Block.

The Blackhawks released a statement on Jones' firing:

Under our new leadership, we have made it crystal clear that nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our players and employees, and there is a zero-tolerance policy for any violation of our standards of conduct in our organization. We have done a lot of work to ensure an environment where employees are encouraged to feel safe coming forward, even if it is about wrongdoing that occurred in the past.

Recently, when allegations of sexual harassment in 2014 by D.J. Jones, the head athletic trainer for the Rockford IceHogs, were reported to the Blackhawks on October 27, 2021, we adhered to our new protocols and procedures, suspended Mr. Jones, conducted an in depth investigation over 5 days and, following the conclusive results, terminated Mr. Jones on November 3, 2021.

Kaplan and Rogers noted Jenner & Block investigated the organization after former player Kyle Beach filed a lawsuit against the Blackhawks and said former video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted him in 2010.

General manager Stan Bowman and vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac resigned and the team was fined $2 million by the NHL after the investigation determined "nothing was done" by senior leaders to stop Aldrich's harassment.

As for Jones, he was fired in his 16th year with the IceHogs.

John Walter, who was previously the assistant athletic trainer, was promoted to take his place as head trainer.

Three more people have contacted the Chicago Blackhawks with allegations against the organization in regards to former team video coach Brad Aldrich, per TSN's Rick Westhead.

Former Blackhawks player Kyle Beach said Aldrich sexually assaulted him during the 2010 NHL season, and the front office did not take proper action, according to an independent investigation in October.

The organization reached a settlement with Beach in December.

Beach was initially referred to as John Doe in the lawsuit before coming forward. A John Doe 2 filed another lawsuit saying Aldrich sexually assaulted him in 2013 while in high school, but the case was dismissed in December. 

According to Westhead, a John Doe 3 has said Aldrich raped him while a student at Miami University in Ohio.

Aldrich quietly left the Blackhawks in 2010 before taking roles as a volunteer at USA Hockey, the University of Notre Dame, Miami University and Houghton High School.

A second allegation came from someone known as Black Ace 1, who said he was harassed by Aldrich in 2010 while he was on the Blackhawks playoff roster.

The third allegation is from Paul Vincent, the former Blackhawks assistant coach.

According to the investigation, Beach said Vincent was the first person he told of his encounter with Aldrich. Vincent responded by telling team counselor Jim Gary and was part of a meeting with general manager Stan Bowman, senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac and CEO John McDonough, urging them to call Chicago police.

Not only was he ignored, but Vincent also says the Blackhawks "derailed his career," according to Westhead.

None of the three allegations have yet been brought to court, but they come after team owner Rocky Wirtz refused to discuss the 2010 incident during a town hall with fans.

"The people that were involved are no longer here," Wirtz said Wednesday. "We're not looking back at 2010; we're looking forward. And we're not going to talk about 2010."

Chicago Blackhawks principal owner and chairman Rocky Wirtz has apologized for his dismissive and combative comments toward The Athletic's Mark Lazerus and the Chicago Tribune's Phillip Thompson during a town hall meeting Wednesday.

Wirtz also released an apology statement:

Both Lazerus and Thompson asked how the organization would take proactive steps after an independent report from the law firm of Jenner & Block found that the team grossly mishandled its response to former team minor leaguer Kyle Beach's sexual assault allegations against former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010.

Lazerus posted his full exchange with Wirtz:

Video of the exchange can be found via The Athletic:

Thompson followed up Lazerus' questioning and also entered the line of fire from the owner for his remarks.

Beach, who filed a lawsuit against the team, reached an out-of-court settlement with the Blackhawks in December.

Chicago Blackhawks defensemen Caleb Jones and Connor Murphy had their vehicles stolen while having dinner at a Chicago restaurant last week.

Police sources told TMZ Sports on Wednesday they are investigating the incident, which took place Dec. 29 when the alleged thieves approached the valet, stuck an object in their back and demanded keys to the players' cars—Murphy's 2017 Porsche Panamera and Jones' 2021 Jeep Trackhawk.

There has been no indication of whether the players were targeted or if it was a random crime, per TMZ.

The alleged theft of the two cars, which have a combined new value of nearly $200,000, took place around 8 p.m. local time last Wednesday and occurred just blocks away from United Center, the Hawks' home rink, according to the report.

Chicago was scheduled to have a road game against the Winnipeg Jets that evening, but it was postponed because of COVID-19 issues. The team had four straight postponements before returning to action Saturday against the Nashville Predators.

Neither the players nor the Blackhawks have publicly commented on the matter.

Jones, 24, was a fourth-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in the 2015 draft. He made his NHL debut with the Oilers in December 2018 and spent his first three seasons with the franchise before landing with the Hawks in a July trade.

He's recorded three points (one goal and two assists) in 12 appearances this season while playing on the same team as his older brother, Seth Jones.

Murphy, 28, is in his fifth season with Chicago after playing his first four years with the Arizona Coyotes, who made him a first-round pick in 2011.

He's tallied two goals and two assists across 30 games in 2021-22 while averaging over 22 minutes per game for the second straight season.

The Blackhawks are back on the ice Thursday night when they open a three-game road trip against the Coyotes.

A negligence lawsuit against the Chicago Blackhawks tied to their handling of sexual assault allegations against former video coach Brad Aldrich was dismissed, according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Ben Pope.

Court records don't indicate whether the suit was dismissed by a judge or settled out of court, and neither the plaintiff, John Doe 2, nor the defendant provided a comment to Pope.

In October, Kyle Beach identified himself as John Doe 1, who said in a lawsuit that Aldrich sexually assaulted him in 2010. Beach also said Blackhawks officials were alerted to the allegations and failed to properly investigate the matter at the time or forward the claim to local authorities.

The NHL issued a $2 million fine to the organization following an investigation by the law firm of Jenner & Block.

The firm's report laid out how in 2010, six team officials, including general manager Stan Bowman and head coach Joel Quenneville, met to discuss Beach's allegations.

The group concluded that "Hockey Operations personnel should devote their exclusive attention to on-ice matters heading into the Stanley Cup Final." They determined that "appropriate Club personnel within the organization would take responsibility for 'handling' the Aldrich situation in a prompt and appropriate manner," which failed to occur.

In addition to the lawsuit filed by Beach, the Blackhawks faced litigation from John Doe 2, a former high school hockey player in Michigan. John Doe 2 said Aldrich, one of his assistant coaches, had sexually assaulted him in 2013.

Aldrich pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student between 16 and 18 and received a nine-month jail sentence in February 2014.

John Doe 2's representatives said in the suit that the Blackhawks displayed "utter indifference or conscious disregard for the safety of others" by not thoroughly examining the alleged 2010 assault. They said the franchise also "provided positive references to future employers ... despite having knowledge of his sexual assaults."

Pope noted the Blackhawks "[pushed] back against a never-substantiated claim they’d written a reference letter" to the school that hired Aldrich as a volunteer coach.

The NHL has postponed three more games this week because of COVID-19, the league announced Sunday. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators are the teams impacted.

The NHL and NHL Players Association also agreed to the reintroduction of taxi squads in order to provide teams with players who can be recalled to avoid having games postponed in the future. 

Each team will be allowed to have a taxi squad of up to six players. In addition, teams are allowed to make emergency recalls from the minors if COVID-19 were to prevent them from playing with a full lineup. 

Taxi squads will be in effect until at least the All-Star break in February. Players on the taxi squad will count as being in the for the salary cap and can be there for a minimum of 20 days. 

The NHL also had taxi squads during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. 

Several players have entered COVID-19 health and safety protocols since returning from the holiday break, including Bruins forward Charlie Coyle, Maple Leafs forward Williams Nylander and Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues. 

The NHL began its holiday break earlier than expected this year because of a rise in positive COVID-19 cases across the league. Every team was shut down beginning Dec. 22, though most were on pause before that point. 

Several teams are set to return to action on Tuesday, including the Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings, Arizona Coyotes and San Jose Sharks.

Because of postponements across the league and rise in COVID-19 cases, the NHL and NHLPA also recently decided that players would not attend the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The league needs the two-week break in the February schedule to make up more than 50 postponed games.