While watching the Kings-Avalanche game on Sunday, I thought about the… fun… portion of the Blackhawks’ fan base that wants to dust off their “2008 Blackhawks Complaints” binder and talk about MOAR HITZ in the comments here and on social media.

At the end of two periods in LA on Sunday, the Kings had a 38-15 advantage in the hits column. They were 0-2 on the power play and down 2-1 on the scoreboard (and 3-0 in the series). There were clearly, intentionally trying to get Colorado off their game with physical play from the jump. It didn’t pay off. The Kings were sent to the golf courses on Sunday.

As we’ve discussed at length here, when Kyle Davidson was named the permanent general manager of the Blackhawks, the Avalanche (and Lightning) were the models he looked at and aspired for his Blackhawks to emulate in the future. The Avs are a team that’s built on speed and skill; they’re physical, but they’re going to skate circles around most other teams.

My last two cents on the “need to be more physical” school of thought: the reason I write as much about the Blackhawks’ pipeline here as I do is so that we can collectively recognize what’s coming and which areas might not be as deep as others. The Blackhawks have drafted guys who play the game nasty in recent years. Two of those guys, Sacha Boisvert and AJ Spellacy, will be full-time professionals next year. And there are more coming.

With the Kings’ postseason ending, that also marks the end of Anže Kopitar’s career. And what a career it was! One of the best defensive forwards of his generation, Kopitar’s postseason battles with Jonathan Toews were some of the best I’ve ever seen. We were blessed to watch those series as fans of either team. Full respect to Kopitar for one helluva career. His next stop will be the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

Anze Kopitar makes his way through the handshake line after his final NHL game 🥹 pic.twitter.com/gdmM1f5mcm— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 26, 2026

In the OHL Playoffs, Brantford won 2-0. Neither Blackhawks prospect registered a point.

In the other OHL playoff game last night, Jack Pridham scored the short-handed game-winning goal in the second period (and had the primary assist on Kitchener’s other goal) in a 2-1 win over AJ Spellacy and Windsor.

PEANUT AND PRIDS CONNECT SHORT-HANDED #RockTheAud | #OHLPlayoffs | #Blackhawks https://t.co/FTjMDEuxjK pic.twitter.com/BogiCRevDD

— Kitchener Rangers (@OHLRangers) April 26, 2026

xx

Through Sam Rinzel’s yearslong journey to fill out his 6-4 frame, he has learned strategies to maximize healthy weight gain every summer.

He’ll utilize those again this summer after a somewhat disappointing NHL rookie season.

New Blackhawks story: https://t.co/GVJbA3o28e— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 26, 2026

Every year there are guys who get a lot of helium late in the draft process and fly up draft boards. Last year, Václav Nestrašil was one of those guys; he ended up being drafted by the Blackhawks at No. 25 in the first round. This year, the the fastest rising stock in the draft might belong to Wyatt Cullen. Really good read on him — which explains the rise — here from Scott Wheeler at The Athletic.

Wyatt Cullen is the talk of the #2026NHLDraft.

“You can’t really stop him.”

My unlocked @TheAthletic feature, with insight from his dad, the NTDP and Slovakia https://t.co/XCosi5QfBE pic.twitter.com/F6gqHE48xh— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) April 27, 2026

In the other Stanley Cup Playoff action on Sunday, the Lightning escaped Montreal with a dramatic 3-2 win and the Bruins crapped their pants in front of a national audience, losing 6-1 to the Sabres in Boston. Tampa and Montreal are tied at 2-2 in their series. Buffalo now has a 3-1 series lead on Boston.

The last game of the night came with some drama! We got another overtime game, which the Ducks won 4-3 early in the fourth period. Anaheim now has a 3-1 series lead, and this goal will be talked about for a long, long time in Edmonton.

CHAOS IN ANAHEIM

• There was NO initial call on the ice when the play was live
• The officials discussed, RULED IT A GOAL on the ice
• THEN there was a video review, NO video angle shows the puck completely across the goal line
• Situation room confirms a GOOD GOAL… pic.twitter.com/2KqkZRl4dg— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 27, 2026

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