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On Saturday night, the Chicago Blackhawks are going to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at the United Center. This will be the final game of “The Originals”, the first of four chapters celebrating their centennial season. 

A ceremony will precede the game. The Blackhawks are encouraging fans to be in their seat at 5:30 to make sure they don’t miss a thing. Pat Foley is going to host the ceremony, which will celebrate the early days of the franchise. 

At 3:30 PM, the Atrium will open and include exhibits that show displays that include tributes to the original days of the Chicago Blackhawks. At 4:45 in the Atrium, Darren Pang will host a Q&A with Blackhawks alumni. 

Fans can enter the United Center at 4:30. The first 8000 fans will receive a Tony Esposito bobblehead. There will be no shortage of Blackhawks-related things to do ahead of this Original Six matchup. 

On the ice, the 8-5-4 Blackhawks will take on the 8-8-2 Maple Leafs in a battle of two franchises seemingly headed in opposite directions. 

Scouting Toronto

The Toronto Maple Leafs are off to their worst start in a decade. Since they built up the core that has made them contenders, they have never had only 8 wins in their first 18 games.

The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) on XWith Matthews out of the lineup with a lower-body injury and both of their goalies currently unavailable, the Leafs are only four points out of first place. @Michael_Traikos says there’s no need to panic - yet: https://t.co/At0TpLwtHv

Their captain and superstar, Auston Matthews, will be missing due to an injury. Both of their goalies, in addition to Matthews, have also been unavailable in recent games. 

Knies-Tavares-Nylander

Robertson-Domi-McMann

Joshua-Roy-Naccelli

Blais-Lorentz-Jarnkrok

Rielly-Carlo

Benoit-McCabe

Ekman Larsson- Mermis

Matthew Knies and Brandon Carlo missed practice on Friday for maintenance, but they are expected to play. These are the lines they fit in on during Thursday's game. Easton Cowan was recalled from the Toronto Marlies and could draw into the lineup as well. 

Joseph Woll has also been activated and should be the starting goalie against the Blackhawks. 

Projected Blackhawks Lines, Defense Pairs, and Starting Goalie

The Chicago Blackhawks have been dealing with injuries themselves, like every team. On Friday, Jason Dickinson, Frank Nazar, and Andre Burakovsky all returned to practice, but Tyler Bertuzzi was missing. Also, Nazar left early with some discomfort. 

Frank Nazar, Jason Dickinson, & Andre Burakovsky All Returned To Blackhawks PracticeAfter time away with various health issues, multiple Chicago Blackhawks players returned to practice on Friday.

Spencer Knight was in the starter's crease during the morning skate. Expect him to go against the Leafs on Saturday night. Knight has been one of the league's best goalies so far this season, so Toronto has no easy path to getting back on track. 

In front of him, the lineup is projected to look as follows:

Bertuzzi-Bedard-Burakovsky

Teravainen-Greene-Mikheyev

Moore-Donato-Dach

Slaggert-Foligno-Lafferty

Vlasic-Crevier

Kaiser-Levshunov

Grzelcyk-Murphy

During their last game against the New Jersey Devils, Sam Rinzel was moved to the 7th defenseman role, while Louis Crevier moved up to the top pair in his place with Alex Vlasic. For this game against the Maple Leafs, Rinzel is going to take a seat and watch. A reset like this worked for Artyom Levshunov, and they are hoping for similar results for Rinzel. Matt Grzelcyk will take Rinzel's spot on the second power play unit. 

Frank Nazar and Jason Dickinson both were at morning skate, but they skated as extras. Right now, Nazar is a game-time decision, and Dickinson will be out for another game. 

Bertuzzi and Burakovsky are both back on the top line with Connor Bedard. Ryan Greene, who did a wonderful job in tough matchup situations against the Devils, will continue in his role as second-line center if Nazar is still out. Ilya Mikheyev and Teuvo Teravainen help him round out the top six. 

For the first time since Chicago's home opener, after 14 straight games with 11/7, Jeff Blashill is going to dress the traditional 12 forwards and 6 defensemen. The forward scratched will be determined by Nazar's availability at the start of the game. If Nazar is good to go, one of Landon Slaggert or Sam Lafferty is the likely candidate, even though they both scored last game. 

Connor Bedard is looking to make it 10 straight games with a point, which would be a career high for him in terms of a point streak. 

How To Watch

Fans in the Chicagoland area can find the game on CHSN. As part of Hockey Night in Canada, this game can be found on Sportsnet north of the border. The puck will drop shortly after 6 PM CT. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.

The long, winding rebuild that has been going on in Anaheim since 2018 looks to be on the upswing. The team has taken steps to become a team worth watching again. They’ve become a team that isn’t an easy out anymore.

When the Anaheim Ducks started this rebuild, moving on from the core of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, they began to look for the future of the franchise. They were drafting high, making plenty of picks, and they thought they seemed to be on the right track.

The selections of Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale in 2019 and 2020, respectively, looked to have them on the right track. Both players looked very promising in their first steps into the NHL. Zegras was the kind of player who was quite literally put on the cover of the NHL video game. There was excitement around the Ducks. The losing didn’t stop, though.

In 2021 and 2022, Mason McTavish, Pavel Mintyukov, and Olen Zellweger were added to the prospect pool and made their debuts. The losing still didn’t stop. The Ducks continued to be a team without structure and without purpose on most nights.

In 2023, Anaheim drafted Leo Carlsson second overall. They moved Drysdale in a trade that brought them Cutter Gauthier. They followed that up by drafting Beckett Sennecke in 2024 and then moving Zegras as the relationship between the team and player soured.

Fast forward to this season, McTavish is playing a pivotal role as a top-six center. Gauthier leads the team in goals. Zellweger and Mintyukov are playing pivotal roles on the backend. Lukas Dostal, drafted in 2018, has become one of the better starting netminders in the NHL. Jackson Lacombe, drafted in the second round in 2019, has emerged as a top-pair blueliner, and Sennecke has 12 points as a rookie in just 17 games.

The Ducks are leading their division by one point, and they’ve played fewer games than the teams chasing them. The team's success has been impressive. They are getting contributions up and down the lineup, but it’s their young players leading the way.

Every team needs a centerpiece or a franchise player. They need the player that they plan on building around. For the Ducks, that’s been Leo Carlsson. The Ducks’ young star is sitting near the top of the NHL’s scoring list alongside players like Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. Coincidentally, going into Friday’s action, Carlsson was tied with Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, the 2024 first overall pick, for third in NHL scoring.

The NHL's Top Scorers Prove Tanking And Rebuilding WorkJust how many top-end NHL draft picks are dominating the scoring race? The answer gives more proof to the benefits of going all in on a rebuild instead of retooling.

When Carlsson was drafted second overall, so much of the discussion was about the Chicago Blackhawks taking Bedard first overall. The buzz around Carlsson was that the Ducks weren’t taking Adam Fantilli, who wound up going to Columbus at third overall. Matvei Michkov was the talk of the draft because he was supremely talented, but fears of the ‘Russian factor’ were whispered about throughout the draft process.

Carlsson was the least fun and exciting option of the players at the top of that draft.

A little more than two years later, he’s the top line center on one of the league’s most talented young squads. The franchise player that they are set to build around for the next decade or more.

What has made Carlsson so special this season is that while he’s scoring the lights out, he has grown into an impactful two-way presence in the mold of Aleksander Barkov or Auston Matthews. His size, skating, and intelligence at both ends of the ice have made him one of the truest two-way forces in the NHL in the early season.

Carlsson has shown flashes in his first couple of seasons. His physical pace has now caught up to his intelligence on the defensive side of the puck. So often, he had the right intentions, but he was just a bit late to the board battle or the loose puck. This year, he’s on time, every time.

His speed and power have become more consistent this year. He’s growing into his frame, and the connections between how his mind operates and what his body is capable of have been evident. It’s allowed him to lean on opponents and take the puck when the game slows down and then burst away with speed.

Through the neutral zone, Carlsson is not only capable of carrying the puck, but he is more than happy to utilize teammates, working passing plays to evade pressure and navigate through traffic. His understanding of pressure has become a strength, absorbing as much as he can before deferring to teammates.

Leo Carlsson's Skating Transformed from Perceived Weakness to his Biggest StrengthDraft scouts pegged Carlsson's skating as a weakness, but the Ducks saw a future star. Now, his improved stride fuels his game-changing impact.

When he gets into the offensive zone, his physical and mental growth have made him one of the league's more lethal dual-threat power forwards. He plays through contact, draws in defenders and then can swing off pressure before hitting a teammate in open ice or use the defender as a screen and fire a pinpoint shot through their feet. Carlsson’s heavy shot has become a legitimate weapon for the Ducks, and opposing teams can’t key in on it because of his vision and passing.

When you start to look at some of the advanced numbers and the underlying stats, Carlsson’s arrival seems even more evident. He’s one of two players in the top 15 of league scoring who have less than 17 percent offensive zone starts, at 16.7 percent, according to moneypuck.com. He also leads that same group in defensive zone starts at 16.9 percent. Only two other players in the league's top 15 scorers are above 14 percent.

Carlsson is currently rocking a 61 percent Corsi and a 59 percent Fenwick, well above average in shot share. His on-ice expected goals percentage is 56 percent. His on-ice shot attempts per 60 minutes are 78.87, an insane rate. Whichever advanced metric you follow, Carlsson looks fantastic. This isn’t just smoke and mirrors. Carlsson’s arrival is legitimate.

Simply put, Carlsson has become borderline dominant on most nights. He’s ascending to the level of a true number one center with elite upside. At just 20 years old, Carlsson has become the franchise piece that the Ducks have hoped for.

Now it’s time for Carlsson and the Ducks to prove that this isn’t just a hot start.

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Throughout recent years, think about the Stanley Cup Champions and the elite teams in hockey. Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk have Aaron Ekblad. Nathan MacKinnon has Cale Makar. Nikita Kucherov has Victor Hedman. 

Right here in the Metro, Sidney Crosby's had Kris Letang for 21 years. Alexander Ovechkin's had John Carlson for 17 years.

All of these teams are or were perennially in the conversation of the best teams in hockey. One thing they had right was a true superstar defenseman, a guy who can play 25 minutes a night and every time he's on the ice, he can scare the opponents with the plays he can make.

For the first time since a guy named Denis Potvin skated with Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier, the New York Islanders have a true superstar on the blue line. 

Matthew Schaefer continues to build his legacy night in and night out. On Friday in Utah, Schaefer scored his first-career overtime goal, becoming the youngest player ever to do so. He broke the record that Crosby set 21 years ago. Schaefer's anchored them to four straight victories, all on the road.

Mathew Barzal teed him up, as the duo whirled all around the ice, skating circles around the Utah Mammoth. 

The Elmonters (@TheElmonters) on XThis guy. In OT 🚨#Isles

That the goal came 24 hours after Schaefer set up Barzal for a late game equalizer against the Vegas Golden Knights just shows the rapport the duo have made.

The Elmonters (@TheElmonters) on X#Isles score a 6-on-5 goal! Drouin, Schaefer setup Barzal🚨

The goals are almost a mirror of each other at the end. A crisp, smooth pass right into the wheelhouse of the shooter for a one-timer. 

That chemistry and skill are the stuff that wins Stanley Cups. They're unmistakable, foundational pieces for the Islanders. It's hard to believe, but Barzal's been here for 10 years now.

Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) on XWhen I talked to #lsles Barzal about Schaefer, he said, "It’s been a long time... I’ve watched MacKinnon & Makar, Pettersson & Hughes—those kinds of guys—so it’s nice to have a guy like that here [...] We’re going to have some nice plays, me & him." https://t.co/gLqJy7JV1d

In that time, he's played with some great offensive defenseman, from Nick Leddy to Noah Dobson, but they're a far cry from what Schaefer brings.

Barzal's at his unmistakable best when he's surrounded by guys who can skate with him. It's why Jonathan Drouin's been such a boon for the Islanders, his speed and skill combining well with Barzal, funneling pucks into dangerous areas constantly.

Drouin's fit well whether he's with Barzal or if he's been with Bo Horvat and Emil Heineman, another dynamic duo that's exploded for the Islanders.

No, this Islanders' team isn't perfect. But for the first time in a long time, they have a truly franchise-altering talent, one whose positive energy and high skill plays have littered the team's highlight reel, just 18 games into the season.

Between him and Barzal, along with Horvat and stellar play from Ilya Sorokin, the Islanders have the bones of what eventually wins a Stanley Cup, or as many of those franchises mentioned at the beginning, multiple championships.