Per his agent on Twitter, right wing Brandon Segal (6’2″, 212 lbs) signed with the Chicago Blackhawks. Originally drafted by the Nashville Predators in 2002, Segal skated in 46 games with Dallas Stars last season. He notched five goals, five assists, and 91 hits.
With the glut of wingers the Blackhawks now have, it’s interesting that this signing took place, to say the least. Tab from Committed Indians suggests that there may have been a complication in Bryan Bickell’s wrist surgery recovery that drove the team to make this signing — a solid theory, but a theory nonetheless. We won’t know anything for sure until the Blackhawks make an announcement of any sort.
If you’d like to follow Brandon on Twitter, his username is @brandon_segal. He is now the fourth Blackhawk on Twitter, joining Jamal Mayers (@jamalmayers), Sami Lepisto (@samilepisto), and Steve Montador (@SteveMontador).
Finally, after almost a month of stalling, Runs On Duncan will be starting its first fantasy hockey leagues!
Yes, “leagues.” As in “more than one league.” See, more people signed up for fantasy hockey than I thought would do so. I did promise that whoever signed up would be in a league, so… now I have two leagues. The good thing about this is that now I can have one rotisserie league and one head-to-head league, so everyone who gave a preference is now in their desired type of league. The people who did not give a preference were split down the middle and distributed evenly.
After the jump, find out which league you’re in, as well as other info that you may find important.
Here’s all the news I’ve been meaning to update you on — but instead, I’ve been mostly curled up in the fetal position, praying that hockey season would just start already:
Tomorrow at 10am, Blackhawks regular-season tickets will go on sale via Ticketmaster, and, trust me — it will be a mad scramble. But what games will give you the most bang out of your 45 bucks (at least)? I’ve decided to help you out with the ten game tickets you should try to get your hands on tomorrow, given here in chronological order.
(You may find that this list is Eastern Conference-heavy — but this is because this will be the only chance to see these teams in the United Center this year. If you want to complain, blame Bettman.)
Let's get ready to rumbleeeee! (Photos: Cheryl Adams/flickr, Let's Go Amerks/flickr)
Alexander Salak and Ray Emery are both gearing up for training camp — as well as giving interviews to rival newspapers.
Salak talked to the Chicago Tribune about the unexpected battle for the backup goalie position after Emery was invited to training camp:
“Nothing changes for me — I always work as hard as I can,” said Salak, who played for Farjestads BK Karlstad of the Swedish League last season. “What happens will happen. I’m just going to work hard and try to stop pucks. All the other things don’t bother me.”
He also mentioned that he would be willing to go to Rockford if he does lose the backup job to Emery — which is good, because the IceHogs need all the help in goal that they can get.
“I’m really comfortable that they have the best intentions for their club in mind when they’re making decisions like that,” Emery said. “I feel like I can do a lot better than I have in the past.”
He also talked about the surgery and rehabilitation on his hip after being diagnosed with avascular necrosis.
His rehabilitation was more of an experiment as he and trainer Matt Nichol tested a variety of exercises, including ballet, Pilates, swimming and yoga, to see what worked best. Acupuncture and hyperbaric treatment were some of the therapies used.
“At certain times, it seemed like it was going to be real hard to get back to playing,” Emery said. “That donor site was the toughest part of the rehabilitation.”
The Blackhawks have two really good choices for Crawford’s backup. We’ll see which way they decide to go in September.
The second-best thing to being here? (Photo: Cheryl Adams/flickr)
If you can’t catch the Blackhawks on CSN Chicago or WGN, and you don’t have Center Ice, don’t fret — you’ll still have a lot of opportunities to catch the Blackhawks on national TV. They will be exclusively on NBC or Versus (which will be re-branded as NBC Sports Network on Jan. 2) 12 times, while one game will be aired both on NBC Sports Network and CSN Chicago. The Blackhawks will also be on the NHL Network six times this season.
After the jump, check out the national TV schedule and plan your life accordingly. All times are CT.
Their entire relationship summed up in one screenshot.
NBC Chicago sat down with Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith during this year’s Blackhawks Convention to discuss their, uh, unique friendship. If the NBC Chicago video player is giving you issues (which would not be surprising, since it’s pretty terrible), check it out below.
After the jump, check out what Hossa’s been doing over the summer…
Turn-on or no? (Hint: No.) (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)
Daniel Carcillo and Andrew Brunette both made their debuts in Blackhawks uniforms on Monday, but Carcillo got the lion’s share of media attention — mostly because of comments like these:
Yes, Carcillo called out the Canucks and named names… even though a couple of those names are no longer on the team. But, of course, it’s the spirit of the rant that got Blackhawks fans fired up and started winning over people who might have looked upon this signing warily (such as myself). He only made more fans in Chicago when he said that he would match Dave Kaplan’s $2 donation to Autism Speaks for every penalty minute he accrues this year (see this video).
I can’t say that I’m completely won over by Carcillo yet, but he’s grown on me. Whether that’s because he’s a fungus is left to be seen.
Meanwhile, Brunette has made it clear that his One Goal (see what I did there?) for the season is to finally win the Stanley Cup. I love him already, but I always have a soft spot for the older dudes.
This image may or may not have something to do with the content of the following videos.
I’m not going to explain what these two videos are, because they’re probably not supposed to be on the Internet. Not like this, anyway. I didn’t put these on YouTube, so copyright owners, this is not on me. Please do not sue. I’m just the messenger. The messenger who enjoys free bootlegs.
So, if you have a couple of hours to spare — you know, about the length of an outdoor hockey game — go watch this.
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