Tommy Hawk, the mascot for the Chicago Blackhawks, got into a spirited scrap with a fan at the United Center following Chicago's 4-3 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night.
The fan reportedly started it, according to Madeline Kenney of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Chicago police confirmed they were notified of a disturbance at the arena after the man allegedly began punching the mascot and put him in a headlock.
But Tommy Hawk is clearly no pushover, responding with some blows of his own that have since made their rounds on social media.
A Blackhawks spokesperson said the team is aware of the incident and will look into it.
"We are gathering the facts and will have no further comment at this time, pending our investigation," the representative said.
Klefbom suffered the injury against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. After the game, Oilers head coach Ken Hitchcock told reporters he expected Klefbom to miss "weeks not days."
The 25-year-old has already missed two games due to the injury this season.
The clubs engaged in a trio of tussles in the first period of the matinee matchup, facing each other for the first time since a heated affair on Dec. 6.
Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk challenged Wild defenseman Matt Dumba to a tilt in the opening minute Saturday, in response to Dumba's massive hit on Calgary's Mikael Backlund that injured the Swede near the end of their previous meeting.
One of the St. Louis Blues' best prospects is sticking with the team for the time being.
Robert Thomas will not be loaned to the Canadian national team for the upcoming World Junior Championship, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong confirmed to TSN's Pierre LeBrun on Saturday.
Thomas has nine points through 25 games in his rookie season. He's been playing on the club's third line alongside Pat Maroon and Tyler Bozak.
The 19-year-old center won gold with Team Canada at the previous world junior tournament in Buffalo, notching six points in seven contests.
He was selected 20th overall by the Blues in the 2017 draft.
Berglund has missed Buffalo's last two games with what the team said was an illness.
Berglund was traded from the Blues to the Sabres along with Vladimir Sobotka, Tage Thompson, and two draft picks in exchange for Ryan O'Reilly this summer. His first season in Western New York has not been pleasant, as he has just four points in 23 games.
Berglund is signed through 2021-22 with a cap hit of $3.85 million.
With things recently taking a turn for the better in Edmonton, Oilers CEO and vice-chair Bob Nicholson gave general manager Peter Chiarelli a somewhat conditional vote of confidence.
The Oilers have gone 8-2-2 since Ken Hitchcock replaced Todd McLellan as head coach, vaulting the club into the top wildcard spot in the Western Conference entering Friday's games. That run has allowed cooler heads to prevail in northern Alberta after a troubling start to the season, with Nicholson saying his general manager's job is safe if the team makes the playoffs.
"Yeah. There's no question." Nicholson told Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic. "I think there's a lot of things that Peter hasn't gotten credit for. He's really started to build. You're starting to see some of them come up now with the (Caleb) Joneses and the (Evan) Bouchards. We have a lot of assets, which this organization hadn't had for a while. Peter deserves a lot of credit for that."
Edmonton had lost six of seven contests when McLellan was let go Nov. 20 and many wondered about Chiarelli's job security going forward in what seemed to be another lost season.
Chiarelli joined the Oilers in 2015 and has faced plenty of scrutiny for some of his personnel decisions since taking over. Edmonton has made the playoffs once during his tenure, advancing to Game 7 of the second round in 2016-17.
This week, theScore's unveiling a five-part series in which we predict who will be protected and picked when the new Seattle franchise selects one player from every other NHL team except Vegas in 2021.
Let’s get something out of the way off the hop: The Seattle mock expansion draft series has been an exercise dominated by projections.
We don't have all the answers relating to an event that will take place in June 2021. The protected lists and picks we've posted over the past few days and the mock lineup below are educated guesses, not absolute certainties.
Even NHL Seattle senior advisor Dave Tippett - a man who will have his fingerprints all over the actual expansion draft process - is guessing at this point in time, a good 30 months out.
All of that being said, this week we attempted to:
Fairly assess not only the trajectory of the 30 NHL clubs faced with filing protected lists in 2021 but also their salary cap situation in the short, medium, and long term
Make rational decisions on pending free agents for 2019 and 2020, factoring in each player’s relationship with his current club and perceived motivation to hit the open market
Avoid any hypothetical trade or buyout scenarios
The end result? A 30-man roster for the Seattle Whatevers. Enjoy.
Depth chart
Forwards
LW
C
RW
Kevin Fiala
Tyler Johnson
TJ Oshie
Ryan Dzingel
Vladislav Namestnikov
Jakob Silfverberg
Miles Wood
Denis Malgin
Tyler Toffoli
Nikolay Goldobin
Ivan Barbashev
Connor Brown
Jason Dickinson
Antti Suomela
Dominik Kahun
Vladislav Kamenev
Jujhar Khaira
Defensemen
LD
RD
TJ Brodie
Josh Manson
Sami Niku
Chris Tanev
Jake Bean
Jared Spurgeon
Matt Grzelcyk
Philippe Myers
Victor Mete
Vili Saarijarvi
Goalies
G
Jonathan Quick
Casey DeSmith
Adin Hill
Roster takeaways
A few thoughts on the projected depth chart:
Plenty of modern blue-liners at Seattle's disposal. A top six of TJ Brodie, Josh Manson, Sami Niku, Chris Tanev, Jake Bean, and Jared Spurgeon looks silly-good on paper, especially when you consider the development period between now and the start of the 2021-22 season.
Right wing is another strength. Barring major drop-offs in production, TJ Oshie, Jakob Silfverberg, and Tyler Toffoli could form a legitimate one-two-three punch. And Connor Brown, who will be 27, slides in nicely in the four-spot.
As for weaknesses, the center position lacks both a star and depth, and goaltending is very much up in the air. None of the six pivots seem fit for first-line duty, while Jonathan Quick's age may deem him largely irrelevant. Also of note: Casey DeSmith and Adin Hill are still vastly unproven at this point, so nothing is a sure thing.
Overall, as with most expansion rosters, this group lacks offensive catalysts. Who is grabbing the bull by the horns up front? Who is the go-to playmaker? A guy like Kevin Fiala, for instance, is probably more of a complementary piece than a line driver. Seattle, like Vegas last year, would be scoring by committee in the early going of its inaugural season.
This week, theScore's unveiling a five-part series in which we predict who will be protected and picked when the new Seattle franchise selects one player from every other NHL team except Vegas in 2021. Today, we project the Pacific Division.
Before diving into our Pacific Division projections, here's a refresher on the expansion draft process:
Teams must submit a protected-players list of either seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie OR eight skaters and one goalie
All players with no-movement clauses must be protected
All first- and second-year players, as well as unsigned draft picks, are exempt and can't be picked
Any player with a career-ending injury is also exempt
And some notes about our process:
We assumed most 2019 and '20 restricted free agents will re-sign with their current club
We made judgment calls on 2019 and '20 unrestricted free agents, projecting some will stay with their current team and others will leave
We didn't factor in any trades or buyouts between now and June 2021
In the tables below, * indicates the player is a projected free-agent signing before 2021, while boldtext indicates the player has a no-movement clause
The Ducks could find themselves in a pickle if they don't move a defenseman before the expansion draft. They could protect Lindholm, Fowler, Montour, and Manson, but that would limit themselves to protecting four forwards and they'd almost certainly lose either Kase or Steel. Needing offense, we project the Ducks would bite the bullet and go with seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie. This will expose Manson, handing Seattle a tough, shutdown rearguard.
Could Neal be taken in consecutive expansion drafts? It's a possibility, but we don't think it will happen, considering the availability of both Brodie and Giordano. Even though we believe Calgary will re-sign Brodie - and let Travis Hamonic walk - in 2020, he's the pick here. At 31, he'll be seven years younger than Giordano for Seattle's first season.
The Oilers don't have the cap flexibility to make significant free-agent additions over the next few years, but we do have them signing Greiss to replace Cam Talbot in goal. With little to choose from, it seems plausible Seattle would pluck Khaira, a versatile forward with size, strength, and underrated skill.
We're projecting the Kings will sign Smith and Hamonic in free agency to replace Tyler Toffoli and Jake Muzzin. In a youth movement, we expect the Kings will leave franchise legends Brown and Quick exposed. Although Walker - a puck-moving defenseman who's posted gaudy numbers in the AHL - is enticing, we think Seattle will start its existence with Quick, a former Conn Smythe winner, between the pipes.
We don't believe the Sharks' roster will look a whole lot different three years from now, with a number of pending free agents signing up for more time in the Bay Area - most notably Karlsson and Pavelski. Although this leaves Seattle with few enticing options, Suomela would provide the first-year club with some much-needed depth down the middle.
As the Canucks shift from a rebuilding team to a contending squad, we envision them signing Simmonds this summer and Faulk in 2020. Seattle would likely take a long look at Hutton, who's having a strong season, but ultimately wind up selecting Goldobin, who's oozing with potential.
