Chicago Blackhawks

Duncan Keith, a three-time Stanley Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, is reportedly set to retire after 17 NHL seasons.

TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported Friday that Keith has decided to hang up his skates despite having one season left on his 13-year, $72 million contract.

The 38-year-old Canadian defenseman spent his first 16 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks before finishing his career as a member of the Edmonton Oilers.

Keith developed into one of the best two-way blueliners of his generation after the Hawks selected him in the second round of the 2002 NHL draft.

The 6'1'', 192-pound defender made his NHL debut in October 2005 and quickly became a high-impact contributor for Chicago. He finishes his career with 625 points (105 goals and 520 assists) and 653 penalty minutes in 1,192 regular-season games.

He won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2010, 2013 and 2015. His gold medals came as part of Team Canada at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.

His list of accolades includes four All-Star Game selections and being voted the Norris Trophy winner as the NHL's best defenseman in 2009-10 and 2013-14. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP during the Hawks' run to the 2015 Cup.

Keith reminisced about his time in Chicago when he returned to the United Center for the first time as an opposing player in March.

"I'm just super proud to say that I was a Hawk for as long as I was," he told reporters. "To be drafted by that team and spend that many years here, definitely proud of that and all the great teammates that pushed me to become a better player. Obviously those three championships stick out for sure."

His No. 2 jersey is a strong bet to eventually join other Blackhawks legends in the United Center rafters.

Keith's decision to retire does lead to a recapture penalty against the salary cap for Chicago—$5.5 million in 2022-23 and $1.9 million in 2023-24, per CapFriendly—but the team is likely heading toward a rebuild, a process that began with the trades of Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach on Thursday. So the added cap hit shouldn't be a major factor.

Meanwhile, the longtime standout defenseman's next stop is likely the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Montreal Canadiens have been busy on the first night of the 2022 NHL draft.

The Habs opened the proceedings by selecting Juraj Slafkovsky No. 1 overall. They followed that by sending Alexander Romanov and the No. 98 overall selection to the New York Islanders for the No. 13 pick. The Nos. 13 and 66 picks then went to the Chicago Blackhawks for Kirby Dach.

Montreal clearly wanted to strengthen its forward line heading into the draft.

Slafkovsky was a logical target. He scored five goals and assisted on five others in 31 Finnish Liiga games. He also had seven points during Slovakia's bronze-medal run in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The Canadiens acquiring a 21-year-old center probably wasn't as expected, though.

Dach didn't perform well in 2021-22, finishing with nine goals, 17 assists and a minus-18 plus/minus rating. He's at least young enough to where Montreal could find some untapped potential.

TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported Dach was a long-term target for the franchise.

For Chicago, flipping Dach for picks comes on the heels of the Blackhawks sending Alex DeBrincat to the Ottawa Senators for three selections, including No. 7 overall.

General manager Kyle Davidson seems to be willing to tear the roster down to the studs and start over. But unlike with DeBrincat, trading Dach will be an easier sell to the fanbase given how much his stock fell off last year.

Still, Thursday's moves foreshadow some tough times ahead in the Windy City.

In Romanov, the Islanders address a clear need.

Noah Dobson's 51 points were the third-most on the team and highest for a defenseman. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock were the only other two defensemen to finish with at least 20 points.

Although Romanov has just 19 career points (four goals and 15 assists) through 133 games, he can help provide some of the attacking verve that was missing if he continues to progress.

The 22-year-old does present an immediate challenge to general manager Lou Lamoriello in the form of his impending restricted free agency. As a 10.2(c) player, though, re-signing him shouldn't come with too much difficulty.

Ahead of the 2022 NHL draft on Thursday night, the Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators shook things up in the top 10.

The Senators announced they have acquired forward Alex DeBrincat from the Blackhawks in exchange for three draft selections, including picks No. 7 and 39 in the 2022 draft.

The Blackhawks tried to toe the line between being a playoff contender and rebuilding their roster going into the 2021-22 season. Things didn't go well, as they finished seventh in the Central Division with 68 points and missed the playoffs for the fourth time in the past five years.

It was going to be difficult for Chicago general manager Kyle Davidson to go all-in on a rebuild without making a drastic move. The team didn't have any major contracts come off their books prior to the start of free agency to clear significant cap space.

Patrick Kane told reporters in April he was hopeful for a quick turnaround going into 2022-23.

"You can win and still be in a rebuild," Kane said. "I think there are teams that have accelerated that too, right? You look at L.A., they had some young guys that probably came in and maybe exceeded some of maybe their front-office expectations and all of a sudden, they're in a spot where they can sign guys like [forward Phillip] Danault and trade for [forward Viktor] Arvidsson, and they're a better team."

Rather than add more money to the payroll with the hopes of getting back to contention, though, it seems Davidson and his staff are emphasizing a long-term approach this offseason.

DeBrincat is an odd player for a rebuilding franchise to trade. He's only 24 years old, just set a career-high with 78 points last season and is under contract for $6.4 million next season before hitting restricted free agency.

Trading DeBrincat does move the Blackhawks back into the first round of Thursday's draft. They dealt their top pick in the 2022 draft last year in a package to acquire Seth Jones from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Jones was given an eight-year, $76 million extension by Chicago after the trade. The pick traded by the Blackhawks wound up being at No. 6 overall. They will be able to get a high-end prospect with the pick they are receiving from the Senators.

Ottawa general manager Pierre Dorion told reporters prior to the start of the 2021-22 season that his team's rebuild "is done" and they were "stepping into another zone."

Instead, the Senators limped their way to a 33-42-7 record and seventh-place finish in the Atlantic Division. They finished in the bottom 10 in the NHL in goals scored (227) and goals allowed (266).

Adding a young, talented player like DeBrincat to the mix should greatly improve Ottawa's scoring output as the franchise looks to end its six-year playoff drought.

Longtime assistant Luke Richardson was officially announced as the Chicago Blackhawks head coach on Monday, marking his first NHL head coaching position.

Frank Seravelli of Daily Faceoff first reported Friday that the Blackhawks would hire Richardson to lead the team. He has eight years of experience as an NHL assistant coach, most recently spending the last four seasons on the Montreal Canadiens bench.

Richardson also spent time with the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders during his coaching career. He also was head coach of the AHL's Binghamton Senators for four years.

Prior to coaching, Richardson was a defenseman in the NHL for 21 seasons. He played in over 1,400 games for the Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets and Tampa Bay Lightning. When he retired in 2009, Richardson ended his career with 35 goals and 166 assists for 201 points.

The Blackhawks missed the playoffs for the second straight year after finishing seventh in the Central Division with a 28-42-12 record this past season.

Chicago opened the year with nine consecutive losses and had an eight-game losing streak toward the end of the year. Former head coach Jeremy Colliton was fired less than a month into the season and Derek King served as interim head coach for the remainder of the year.

Richardson's hiring is the first step into a new era for the Blackhawks. Veteran winger Patrick Kane is entering the final year of his contract in 2022-23, and he expressed a desire to finish his career with the team that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2007. The 33-year-old helped lead Chicago to Stanley Cup victories in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

The Chicago Blackhawks haven't made a decision on their head coaching position just yet.

NHL insider Kevin Weekes reported the "situation remains fluid" but no decision has been made to this point. Weekes previously reported Chicago was "close to hiring" Calgary Flames assistant coach Ryan Huska and issued something of a correction with the follow-up:

Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago reported the indication Huska was headed to the Blackhawks as of Monday was "inaccurate" since "no decision has been made yet on a permanent head coach."

The Blackhawks fired head coach Jeremy Colliton in November following a 1-9-2 start to the season and finished the 2021-22 campaign with Derek King serving in the interim role.

Chicago went 27-33-10 under King and missed the playoffs for the second season in a row. It hasn't won a postseason series since the 2014-15 campaign, which is a far cry from the stretch when the franchise won three Stanley Cup titles in a six-year span from 2009-10 through 2014-15.

Colliton had been the head coach since taking over during the 2018-19 season after the Blackhawks fired Joel Quenneville.

Whichever coach the franchise hires will be joining a team with plenty of immediate uncertainty after a disappointing campaign. Chicago notably added defenseman Seth Jones and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury last offseason but ended up trading the latter and failed to live up to higher expectations with the new pieces in place.

Decisions will need to be made at the goaltender position as well as with a number of notable names as the team decides how much of a rebuild it will undertake.

Whether that means moving on from Blackhawks legends Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews remains to be seen. Chicago could even look to trade forward Alex DeBrincat, which would only serve to facilitate a rebuild even more for a team that may still be multiple seasons away from true contender status.

Huska has plenty of coaching experience as a four-year assistant for the Flames after he was the head coach of the team's affiliate in Stockton and Adirondack.

He also has Blackhawks connections considering the organization drafted him in 1993, although he appeared in just one NHL game during the 1997-98 season.