Wednesday's episode begins with a preview of the Chicago Blackhawks' preseason opener against the Detroit Red Wings at the United Center. Host Jack Bushman dives through which Blackhawks' players are expected to be in the lineup, projected forward lines and defensive pairings, and what to watch for against the Red Wings. The episode concludes with a discussion of several Blackhawks' prospects playing for NCAA programs that have been ranked inside the top 25 to kick off their preseason. All that and more on Locked On Blackhawks. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.
Blackhawks Projected Lineup (2:30)
What To Watch vs. Red Wings (14:45)
NCAA Prospects Update (26:30)
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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Black Hawk's pre-season action begins tonight, all getting to everything you need to know ahead of the matchup with the Red Wings. Your Lockdown Black Hawk, your daily podcast on the Chicago Black Hawk, part of the Lock What's going on everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Lockdown Black Hawk's, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm your host Jack Bushman, you can go and find me on X @ Jack Bushman 2. Be sure to also go and check out my Strictly Black Hawk's account at Talk & Hockey, that way you can catch all of the latest Black Hawk's news and updates, and also got to let you know today's episode is sponsored by FanDuel. If you're not already a member, go and visit FanDuel.com right now to get $200 worth of bonus bets guaranteed when you put $5 down with America's number one sports book. All right, Black Hawk's fans, good morning. Thank you all again for joining me on another episode of Lockdown Black Hawk's, your one stop shop for all things Chicago Black Hawks. I hope everyone's Wednesday is off to a lovely start. I know mine is, and that's because Black Hawk's hockey, not officially back, it's not the regular season opener, but pre-season action begins here this evening, a 7 p.m. central time puck drop at the United Center as the Detroit Red Wings come to town for pre-season game number one here for the Black Hawks. And as I'll be doing ahead of every game, not only for the pre-season, but throughout the entirety of the 82 game regular season, I'm going to talk about to open things up on today's episode. The projected lineups for both the Black Hawks and the Red Wings, as well as all the key storylines that you need to be keeping an eye on here tonight when the action begins because there are so many meaningful training camp battles and jobs being fought for right now. And as I've talked about throughout the course of the week, I really believe these pre-season games are truly going to determine the winners and losers of those battles. I'm going to have you covered again, as I will throughout the pre-season and the regular season. So whether you're someone who stumbled upon the lockdown Black Hawks podcast here on YouTube or wherever, you may be listening to your podcast, or even if you're someone who's occasionally checked into these episodes, please make sure to go and hit that subscribe button. It's free. Everything 100% free and really does help me out tremendously. I've had a goal since the start of the summer to reach 2,000 subscribers before the Black Hawks open things up for the regular season on October 8th against the Utah Hockey Club. That goal is in sight, but I can't do it without your help. So please make sure to go and hit that subscribe button. But enough of that, let's go ahead and get into what we expect to see out of the Black Hawks lineup when the pre-season begins here tonight at the United Center, and it seems like it's going to be a rather good mix of prospects and veterans here for the Black Hawks lineup. But up on the top line for the Black Hawks, Connor Badard, my boy, our boy is going to be centering the line. Of course, we did expect him to get in a good amount of pre-season action here to get him ready for the start of his sophomore campaign, which we all want to see him take that next step, going to have Tyler Bertuzzi on that top line with him tonight, which isn't a surprise considering those two have been paired up together throughout the training camp, excuse me, thus far. But it's going to be Tevo TerraVinan actually skating on the right wing with that duo despite TerraVinan having skated on the second line for the majority of training camp thus far, getting a good opportunity tonight to prove to the Black Hawks coaching staff that he's capable of playing on that line with Bertuzzi and Badard to open up the regular season. So going to be interesting to see what that trio has to offer. A reason though, I believe that TerraVinan is getting that opportunity on that line tonight is because Taylor Hall is down on the Black Hawks second line playing with a couple of prospects. It's not going to be Philip Kerr as you have centering the Hawks second line like we've seen in training camp thus far. And I think that's why TerraVinan is probably up one spot. They have Hall tonight slated with Frank Nazar, someone who's competing for a job here in training camp feels like he's a long shot to make this team. But if he has a really solid performance starting right here right now tonight, we know he got off to a good start at the Tom Kervers prospect showcase from what I've read and from what I've seen. It feels like Nazar has continued that momentum over into training camp thus far, but it's really going to be these preseason games that matter for him. If he wants to make this team, he's going to have to quite honestly light it up here tonight. He's probably going to have to find a way to, if not wind up on the stat sheet, then at least impact the game in a couple of different ways. So a really, really meaningful performance here tonight for Frank Nazar getting an opportunity with Kershev out of the lineup and should Nazar make this team, which again, I'm going to reiterate, is seemingly a long shot at this point. This would be the spot that he would likely be in the second line center spot or the third line center spot. So a major chance for him tonight and skating with them on the right wing is Nick Lardis, someone who also had a really solid performance, albeit in only one game at the Tom Kervers prospect showcase. I've also read that the Blackhawks have been really happy with this performance so far in training camp. He sees to be catching some folks eyes and I've talked about on the pod since the Tom Kervers prospect showcase about how much I want to see Nick Lardis in a real opportunity in a couple of preseason games. Love to see that the Blackhawks front off is kind of feels the same way. So not only a big chance for Nazar tonight, a big chance for Nick Lardis as well. On the third line for the Blackhawks, a trio that we've seen the last couple of days, Ryan Donato on the left wing side, Craig Smith on the right hand side, two fringe guys from what we're seeing at this point in time based on the line combinations, feels like if the regular season were to start right here right now, Blackhawks fans, Donato and Craig Smith would be the two forwards that probably find themselves on the outside looking in probably would be the two healthy scratches if opening night was here this evening. So notable game for both of them in centering that line is AJ Spelsi, a man who the Blackhawks have been really, really happy with as well here early on so far in the fall. Spelsi, of course, was a selection in this 2024 draft class really made his strong first impression at the Tom Carver's Prospect Showcase as well, scored a goal, showed some good speed and has a boatload of size for only being 18 years old. So excited to see AJ Spelsi in action against some grown men here this evening and then rounding things out on the fourth line, Samuel Savoie, Paul Lewinsky and Joey Anderson, someone who also is kind of on the cusp of a roster spot or a lineup spot. So really meaningful game here for Joey Anderson. Love to see Samuel Savoie and Paul Lewinsky sticking together. I've sat it on the show a couple of times. It feels like it feels like those two just mesh really well and have good energy and kind of play with the same mentality. So I like to see that the Blackhawks coaching staff has stuck with them here to open things up in the preseason and then on the defensive side of things, same combinations that we've been seeing for the most part here this week, particularly in the top four, Alec Martinez newcomer from the Vegas Golden Knights playing with Seth Jones on the Blackhawks top pairing. It is not the Alex Vlassek Jones duo that we saw anchoring the Blackhawks blue line for the majority of last year. Luke Richardson has elected to split them up and it feels like this is what the Blackhawks top for defensively based on Richardson's comments. It sounds like this is what it's going to be to open up the regular season. So first look for this new pairing here this evening. First look for the Vlassek Brody pairing. The second pairing for the Blackhawks with TJ Brody playing his offside. Alex Lassick of course had a mammoth year last year to really cement himself as one of the better young defensive defenseman in all of the NHL really hoping that he'll be able to build off of that momentum and also a big contract extension six year deal for him in the off season at four point six million dollars, which I think is going to be such a bargain for Chicago. And then Kevin Korschinski and Connor Murphy rounding things out on the third pairing, even though that has been a spot that Wyatt Kaiser has been in for the majority of training camp. He actually is out tonight due to a maintenance issue. So a good opportunity here for Kevin Korschinski, and then in that Peter Marasic is expected to get the start with Mitchell weeks serving as the backup. I'd imagine the Blackhawks are probably going to flip them at the midway point potentially to give both of them some action or maybe they do wind up going with Peter Marasic the entirety of the game wouldn't be surprised though if they do wind up giving weeks a half of the game here to kind of kick things off and training camp as far as the power play units for the Blackhawks, Connor Baderd, Tevo TerraVinen and Taylor Hall, who is in the bumper role starting things off for the top power play unit. Tyler Bertuzzi is in the net front presence role and then Seth Jones is the one quarterbacking things for the second unit. You got Frank Nazar, Nick Lardis on the right hand side, those two were a really nice duo with one another at the Tom Kurvers prospect showcase. Craig Smith is the man that they have in the bumper role, Samuel Savoir, getting an opportunity in the net front presence spot and then Kevin Korchinski, unsurprisingly quarterbacking things for the second power play unit. As far as the Detroit Red Wings lineup, what we can expect to see from Detroit here this evening, there was a report out of Detroit before the Red Wings hit the flight to fly to Chicago. It looks like they're going to be having a good amount of prospects in the lineup here this evening, but they are going to be rolling with their top line of Alex Debrinkett, Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. So the Blackhawks defense got to be on their toes whenever that trio is on the ice. The most effective trio for the Red Wings last year, Lucas Raymond, a phenomenal season. Finally, got that contract figured out as an RFA. The rest of the forwards though kind of prospect level guys for the most part defensively though, the Red Wings are putting some regulars in the lineup. Simone Advinson, a first round pick of theirs from a couple of years ago, I believe is trying to make the roster out of camp or maybe they're going to give him an opportunity either way. He's going to be skating with Jeff Petry on the wings top defensive pairing and then a couple of Blackhawks legends paired up with one another on the second pairing and Eric Gustafson and Oli Mata and then Tyler Mott also another Blackhawks legend is in the lineup for Detroit. Probably a little nod there from the coaching staff to give them an opportunity here in Chicago, not 100% sure who's going to get the start in goal for the Red Wings. It looks like it's either going to be Sebastian Costo or Villy who so, but not 100% sure which of the two it's going to be, but there is a look at both teams projected lineups who we can expect to play here this evening when the preseason begins at the United Center going to take a quick break Blackhawks fans, but when I return, I'll talk about every storyline that you need to be watching tonight against the Red Wings. But first, I got to talk to you all about Fanduel. I know you've all heard about Fanduel at this point in time, right? But some now Fanduel has something a little bit different for all of you. And to all my NFL fans out there, you can now start the season with a big return over at Fanduel, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can go and check out the latest stats view play by play and so much more on the same page where you also place your bets and to all my Blackhawks fans out there, Fanduel has officially dropped the over underlines for each and every team's projected point totals for the 2024, 2025 regular season. Fanduel has the Blackhawks listed at a savvy 74 and a half points this year, which I think is a really, really accurate number. My heart is telling me to go over, my brain is telling me to go under. Got to remember this Blackhawks team only had 52 points, I believe last year. So that is a pretty big jump, even though I do expect them to be better. I think they're probably going to end up somewhere between 70 and 78. That's why I feel like the 74.5 number is really savvy by Fanduel. However, if you have a hunch, make sure to go and place your bet on either the over or the under for the Blackhawks season point totals by Fanduel. And if you're not already a member, go and check out Fanduel.com right now, sign up and you'll get a free $200 worth of bonus bets guaranteed when you put $5 dollars down. Again, that's a $200 guarantee of bonus bets when you put $5 dollars down by creating account with America's number one sports book. So go and check out Fanduel.com right now for a spectacular offer with football season underway and hockey season getting oh so close, Fanduel, America's number one sports book. Hello White Sox fans, I'm Todd Welter, host of Lockdown White Sox, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day, Lockdown White Sox brings you the latest White Sox news analysis and breaks down all the action, tune in to hear about the team search for a new manager and try to build a roster that doesn't lose over 100 games, plus I'll have plenty of guests to discuss White Sox baseball. Subscribe or follow Lockdown White Sox for free on YouTube or ever you listen to your podcasts. Back here on the Lockdown Black Sox Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Again, just a quick reminder to please go and smash that like button, comment down below in the subscribe to Lockdown Black Sox on YouTube. Want to tip my cap to you all as well for making Lockdown Black Sox your very first listen. Now for your second listen of the day, make sure to go and check out the Lockdown NHL podcast where the season never ends, providing national expertise with a local perspective and you can easily find the link to Lockdown NHL down in the description of this video or simply search on YouTube or wherever you may be listening to your podcast part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day segment to again, as I will be doing for each and every Black Hogs game, not only through the preseason, but throughout the entirety of the regular season as well, make sure to be on the lookout for tomorrow's episode, my reaction and recap of the Black Hogs preseason opener against the Red Wings will be dropping every morning, something I'm going to be doing also throughout the course of the season. The latest I really, really plan on having those episodes out, something I'm really going to emphasize this year is noon the following day. So at the very latest by lunchtime, you can have a recap in a, just a full, full reaction to everything that goes down with the Black Hogs from their game the night prior. So please make sure to go and hit that subscribe button if you haven't done so already. Again, 100% free doesn't cost you anything and really does help me out tremendously. But with so many battles going on for the Black Hogs here in training camp, the preseason is going to be so crucial. If you want to earn a roster spot or if you want to open, earn a job in the opening night lineup for the Black Hogs, you're probably going to have to show up here in the preseason. I mean, yeah, it's important to perform well in practice and in the scrimmages that the Black Hogs have been holding thus far. But the game like action is really where it counts. Of course, the preseason, the records don't matter, but you want to be, you want to be leaving a lasting impression here if you're someone who's on the bubble, either as a fringe NHL, AHL or someone who is on the cusp of earning a lineup spot. So definitely lots of things to be watching for the Black Hogs here tonight. First though, before I get into that, I do want to let you all know that the Black Hogs in case you have missed it did officially make their first round of training camp cuts yesterday, although none of the players that they have cut off their roster are unsurprising. All of them going back to their respected junior teams, Merrick Vanacker, first round selection here for the Black Hogs in 2024 out with a shoulder injury, isn't expected to be able to play for the Brantford Bulldogs until sometime late October, mid to early November is the expectation about the Black Hogs have officially sent him back to the OHL along with Alex Farand, who also hasn't been able to take part in training camp. He's been reassigned to the Sudbury Wolves, Martin Michiac who, despite being undersized and getting bodied a couple of times at the Tom Carver's Prospect showcase, still wound up putting up three points in two games worth of action, wanted to see him get at least one preseason game here, but the Black Hogs have returned him to the Iriotters along with Ty Henry, who was a six round pick in this past year's draft. All of them have now been reassigned by the Black Hogs and that brings their training camp roster down from 53 to 49. So the first rounds of cuts officially have gone underway, but none of them very surprising here is none of those four were going to make the Black Hogs roster. Going back to their junior teams where hopefully they can take some good things that they learned here in training camp and from the showcase and being around some of these guys and see that translate and help them out in their respected seasons here this year. But the first storyline that I think needs to be watched tonight for the Black Hogs when they take on the Red Wings in the preseason opener is how does Tyler Bertuzzi and Tevo Theravine in Fair with Connor Badard. Even though we have seen a Hall in Bertuzzi skating with Badard thus far, Luke Richardson has said during these games, now that they're about to start, this is one he's going to change things up and give guys some different looks and some different opportunities. So this is when it really starts to count again to me, just reiterating how important these preseason games are. Tyler Bertuzzi, I think we've all kind of figured he was a shoe in a really good fit to skate with Connor Badard given his size and the way that he plays the game with a little bit of sandpaper, he can protect Badard out there as well without completely sacrificing offensive abilities. So I figure like he's probably going to open up the year with Badard, but as far as the Hall versus Theravine in battle, I think that is very much up in the air. So Tevo Theravine in getting a shot to prove that he can be the one to fair and mesh well with Connor Badard starting here this evening. So a major opportunity for both of those two and also for Connor Badard to get things started on the right foot here in the preseason said he's feels like more comfortable after kind of being away from the interviews and just relaxing in the summer and even though he will never be completely out of the spotlight, it feels like he's just more comfortable with the type of situation that he finds himself in. So we'd love to see Connor Badard, of course, get off to a good start here as well. Second storyline that I think all Black Hawks fans need to be keeping an eye on tonight is how do Frank Nazar and Nick Lardis fair? Lardis is going to go back to Branford, but the Black Hawks have been really stoked with what they've seen from him thus far. Frank Nazar is my favorite prospect in the entire pipelines for the Black Hawks would love to see him just while the coaching staff and the fan base with a strong performance tonight. That's the only way that he's going to make this team out of camp and even with that, I still think it's going to be a long shot, but the only way he's going to make this team is if he forces the training camp to not send him to Rockford because he performed so well. So definitely keep an eye on Frank Nazar and Nick Lardis when they hit the ice tonight for the Black Hawks along with Taylor Hall and speaking of Taylor Hall, my next storyline is how does Taylor look in his first game since returning from a torn ACL that obviously forced him to miss the majority of last season. Super unfortunate thought he was going to come in and be a big piece of the offense, the power play skating along with Connor Badard. He very well could still get that spot when the regular season opens up, but apparently he's been buzzing and skating really well, feels like he's excited to be back on the ice and fully healthy. So hopefully he takes advantage of this opportunity here tonight to get off to a strong start and remind everyone that he is still that guy. Next storyline that I think all Black Hawks fans should be watching is how does Alec Martinez fair with Seth Jones and how does TJ Brody fair with Alex Vlas like two newcomers on the back end for the Black Hawks here, both starting off in top four roles, which isn't unfamiliar for either of those two guys. That's the spot they've been in for a majority of their careers. Hopefully will help sure up this Black Hawks defense, which has been a struggle of theirs for far, far, far too long, but as I talked about earlier, seems like these are going to be the top two pairings for the Black Hawks unless something drastic happens when they open things up against the Utah hockey club on October 8th. So going to be interesting to see how these two new pairings fair with one another. I'm sure it's going to take a little bit to establish that chemistry. They've only been skating with one another for what four to five days at this point in time. Pre-season action really starts early on in training camp these days. So it might be a little bit of rust there might take some time for these two pairings to fully click, but really interested to see how they kind of handle business with one another out there. TJ Brody on his off-wing is something to keep an eye on as well. Next storyline is how does Kevin Korchinsky start off? Does he get off to a fast start and take advantage of this chance that he's getting tonight as Wyatt Kaiser is out due to maintenance? Doesn't sound like it's anything serious, but the Black Hawks rightfully so don't see any reason to be rushing a youngster back in a hurry from something like this. So Kaiser not going to get an opportunity here tonight despite being the one who at this point in time has had a leg up over Kevin Korchinsky and if I have to guess right here right now feels like Kaiser is more likely to make the team than Kevin Korchinsky, but if Korchinsky turns some heads here tonight and throughout the rest of the games that he gets here in the pre-season, it's certainly not out of the cards that he can make the roster. But probably has to get off to a strong start here tonight with Connor Murphy on the Black Hawks third pair and also getting a chance to quarterback the Black Hawks second power play unit two. If he wants to make his mark, Kevin Korchinsky's going to have to do something notable here this evening. Last one certainly not least, just keep an eye on the fringe guys, Ryan Denado, Craig Smith, Joey Anderson, three guys who appear to be on the outside looking in and then also just keep an eye on Frank Nazar, Nick Lardis, two guys. Lardis is going back to junior, but Nazar is really someone who's on the cusp. I'm sure Colton Doc isn't very happy that he's not in the lineup here tonight. Someone who also is trying to earn a job on the NHL roster out of camp. Sorry, Colton, these two guys just have higher offensive ceilings than you do and feels like the Black Hawks want to give them a real opportunity to play with an NHL caliber playmaker. That's why Taylor Hall is playing on that left wing spot despite Colton Doc being spotted there for all of training camp up to this point. I fully expect Colton Doc to be playing in one of the two games over the weekend, but he's just not a top six piece at this point in time and probably doesn't ever have that top six upside. Well, Frank Nazar and Nick Lardis do and the Black Hawks clearly want to see what they have with a little bit more capable of a player alongside them. So a lot of storylines to be watching here tonight. Very, very meaningful preseason for the Chicago Black Hawks could not be more stoked for things to get underway here this evening, but there is everything you need to be looking for when the action begins tonight down at the United Center before I wrap things up in just a moment. I'll take a quick look at the Black Hawks top prospects playing college hockey this season. I got to talk to you all real quick, though, about indeed before we get there. We're all driven by the search for better, but when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search match with indeed. 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Again, go and visit indeed.com/lockdown to take advantage of a free $75 sponsor job credit that will help get your jobs more visibility. Need to hire than you need indeed. Hello White Sox fans. I'm Todd Welter, host of Lockdown White Sox, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Lockdown White Sox brings you the latest White Sox news, analysis, and breaks down all the action. Tune in to hear about the team search for a new manager and try to build a roster that doesn't lose over a hundred games, plus I'll have plenty of guests to discuss White Sox baseball. Subscribe or follow Lockdown White Sox for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Real quick, just a reminder that next week's mailbag Monday is quickly approaching right around the corner, and I know all of you listeners on the audio side of things, some of you viewers on YouTube, I know you all have Black Sox questions out there, please make sure to go and drop them down in the comments section. You can also reach out on any one of my social media channels, or you can even email Lockdown BlackLocks@gmail.com. All right, segment three, another year, another salad chunk of Black Sox prospects playing for what are expected to be some of the top programs in all of college hockey this season. The NCAA preseason top 25 poll was released earlier on this week, and a slew of Black Sox prospects find themselves or find their respected programs on this list. So I figured I would go through each and every one of them and talk about their projected roles and what kind of performance I expect to see out of all of them here this season. Taking things off at the number one spot, the defending national champion Denver pioneers were of course, Aidan Thompson is going to be playing his third, his junior season with the pioneers. Didn't have the best sophomore campaign, though, which was a little disappointing after being a point-per-game player as an overage freshman. We saw Aidan Thompson not really ascend in the pioneers lineup. He was kind of still stuck as the third line center, the same spot that he was in the year prior, and his production definitely took a dip. 11 goals, 19 assists for just 30 points and 44 games worth of action, although did play in each and every game for the national champions. Coming back as a returning guy, I would like to see him hopefully slot into the top six for Denver here this year. That would be my expectation and would really like to see Aidan Thompson, someone who I was high on going into his freshman year at Denver because of the way that he plays the game and the physical maturity that he had despite not being the biggest guy out there. I would really like to see him bounce back with a strong performance this year as an upper classman. Coming in at number three, the Boston University Terriers, Ryan Green, of course, co-captain of Boston University this year during his junior campaign, a big-time sophomore year for him to help be you get to the frozen four, 36 points, 12 goals, 24 assists and 40 games last year for Ryan Green, carrying over the momentum that he built from a strong freshman season in which he had 31 points and 39 games, I believe it was nine goals and 22 assists, I believe, don't have the numbers in front of me for Ryan Green, but puts together back-to-back really strong seasons as an underclassman throughout the course of the summer I've talked about how, even though he was offered an entry-level deal by the Blackhawks, I really like that he passed it up to return to be you, to be a co-captain, to be one of the looked-up upper classmen for what's expected to be, again, one of the top programs in all of the country. He's on the quest to lead this team to a national championship, he's going to be the man there should be centering the Terrier's top line, I fully expect, going to be a focal part of their power play and couldn't even be taking on a bigger role on the penalty kill and the defensive side of things, so I believe this is going to be a really good opportunity for Ryan Green, really excited to see what he has in store for his junior season. Next up, at number five we have North Dakota, the Fighting Sioux, haven't had a Blackhawks prospect play for North Dakota in quite some time, but they got one this year in Sasha, Bois Verde, the 18th overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft, who is going to be a freshman, we haven't seen him at the college level yet, but at the USHL level he did have a really strong season with the Muskegon Lumberjacks, 36 goals, 32 assists for 86 points in 61 games worth of action, really good goalscore, has a lot of good size, really good work I think as well, the things that I'm really looking for, for Bois Verde to develop, excuse me, the skating, that's the one kind of real knock on his upside as he doesn't possess that elite level skating or acceleration, definitely something he has to work on here in college hockey for however many years he's going to be with North Dakota in just the overall playmaking, which I think kind of goes hand in hand with a little bit of a caps skating ability, right? Because if you're not a strong skater, that's going to limit how much plays you're going to be able to create, he's been a goal scoring forward for the majority of his young career, would really like to see while they're kind of take strides in both the skating and the playmaking areas for again, however long he is with the fighting suit. Good opportunity for him though this year, probably expect him to be in the bottom six somewhere considering this is one of the better teams in all of the country, but stoked to see what he has in store during his freshman year at number six. How about this? We're only through six teams here in the rankings and already we have another two blackwalks prospects. This is going to be our fourth and our fifth, Oliver Moore and Sam Renzel for Minnesota at number six, both of them going to be sophomores, both of them having very, very strong freshman seasons. Oliver Moore had 33 points in 39 games, nine goals, 24 assists, got off to a little bit of a slow start, but really found his footing late in the year. And then Sam Renzel on the back end, 28 points, two goals and 26 assists in 39 games, got in vision. He's either going to be on the top pairing or at the very worst, the second pairing considering he was already in that spot last season as a freshman, fully expect him to take on a larger role and more minutes on the back end. And same thing for Oliver Moore up front, he was already a guy who got elevated into the top six at the end of the year when he kind of figured things out eventually, but I expect him to be in that top six role once again, playing in all situations, power play, penalty kill. And I think the Big Ten is sleeping on Oliver Moore this year. I know there's a lot of good talent and a lot of good upperclassmen's in this conference, but Sam Renzel, I believe, was named to the all Big Ten preseason second team. Oliver Moore, I don't think was on any of the preseason teams for the Big Ten. So keep sleeping on my boy, Oliver Moore. I love that. He's going to prove you all wrong. Next up at number 13, we got three Blackhawks prospects playing for the Providence Friars this year and Tage Harding, Connor Kelly and John Mustard. The first two are going to be seniors, John Mustard, of course, 67th overall pick in this year's draft is going to be a freshman, Tage Harding, a very disappointing junior year after really building some momentum as a sophomore, only at eight points, and even though he's never going to be like an offensive, even if he does make the NHL, like that's never going to be his bread and butter. But after having 17 points, four goals and 13 assists in 37 games as a sophomore, I would have liked to see him build on that more to only have eight points in 34 games last year, definitely disappointing. As a six, six, six, seven body, I would like to see him establish that shot a bit more seems like it's going to be unlikely that he has a future here with the Blackhawks, but you never know going to have to have a big senior season. It feels like though, to get on their radar, Connor Kelly feels like a guy who's never going to get an untrue level contract, if I'm being honest, someone who has never really lit it up all that much in college was a later round draft pick for the Blackhawks anyway. But going to be a scene, excuse me, going to be a senior as well, didn't have a very strong year last year. He put up career high 12 points and 34 games of action, one goal and 11 assists going to be looked at as one of the senior leaders as far as what roles we can expect for Harding and Kelly. I believe Kelly was on the second pairing for most of last year, while Tage Harding was on the third pairing as two upperclassmen. I probably expect both of them to slide up into the top four, which will be a good opportunity for both guy and then John Mustard as a freshman, of course, hard to kind of put your finger on what the expectations are for him, but I'd imagine he's somewhere in the bottom six does have a good skill set, though, some good size 6162, a buck 85, a buck 90 and put up good offensive numbers last year for the Waterloo Blackhawks in the USHL 29 goals, 27 assists in 60 games. He's got some good wheels, so that gives him some capable upside. But the Providence Friars, three Blackhawks prospects playing for them this year and then rounding things out, the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, Dominic James returning after a season-ending lower body injury last year, and Adam Guyann after playing in the USHL is going to embark on his freshman journey here with UMD, Dominic James only got to play in two games last year, which was rather unfortunate, but has been named the captain for this upcoming year and had a pretty productive sophomore season, so hopefully as a senior will be able to lead this team in a top six role, did have 10 goals in 18 assists, as I mentioned, for 28 points in 35 games as a sophomore, and then Adam Guyann hopefully will be able to have a much stronger freshman campaign, maybe with some more capable defenders in front of him because despite having a 23, 12 and six record last year, the numbers weren't very good. A 3.35 goals against average, 0.893 save percentage for Guyann in the USHL and 43 appearances. Certainly not the numbers you would have liked to see from him after the Blackhawks made him the first goalie off the board in the 2023 NHL draft. A few of the goalies that went after Guyann went on to have really strong seasons, so hopefully he gets his mojo back here this year. I don't know how much he's actually going to be playing. I imagine that he's going to be the backup, but would love to see his college campaign get off to a good start to find his footing a little bit after kind of a shoddy first year following being drafted by the Blackhawks. But that's going to wrap up today's episode everyone again. Thank you all for joining me on today's episode of Lockdown Blackhawks. Be sure to look out for the episode that's dropping tomorrow where I'll be recapping everything that went down in the Blackhawks preseason opener tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. Make sure that you subscribe to Lockdown Blackhawks on YouTube so you don't miss out on that or any of my previews of Blackhawks games or my recaps of Blackhawks games throughout the rest of the preseason or the regular season which is just around the corner and go and follow Lockdown Blackhawks for free if you haven't done so already to go and get the audio version of this podcast for 100% free. That also will not cost you anything. If you want to check me out on X can find me at Jack Bushman 2. Make sure to go and follow my strictly Blackhawks account though at talk and hockey so that way you can get all of the latest Blackhawks news and updates. Until the next episode everyone enjoy the rest of your nights. Go Hawks. Let's start the preseason off with a bang even though the game isn't going to matter in terms of the record. I do not like losing to the Detroit Red Wings so not let's not let that happen here on home ice tonight Blackhawks. Let's get things off to a good start and see that intensity that we've been seeing early on a training camp really pay off from the get go. I'll be back on the show tomorrow morning to recap everything that went down in the Blackhawks preseason opener but until then I'll see you next time on the Lockdown Blackhawks Podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network your team every day. a prime member you can listen to this locked on podcast add free on Amazon music download the Amazon music app today.
