Hawks Headlines: Bickell Reminisces About His Cup Day

Also, Khabibulin says he has to play better after poor effort vs. Ottawa

In Friday's edition of Hawks Headlines, we get a health update on Brad Mills, and we hear from Nikolai Khabibulin after he had an awful performance in net Tuesday night against the Ottawa Senators.

-According to Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville, forward Brad Mills is day-to-day with a lower body injury, and it doesn’t appear that he will travel to Winnipeg for Saturday’s matinee tilt against the Jets. [ESPN Chicago]

-Blackhawks team historian Bob Verdi caught up with Bryan Bickell recently, and among the topics discussed was how Bickell’s home town of Orono has honored the Stanley Cup championship he won with his team this summer. [Blackhawks.com]

-Jonathan Toews was nominated for Canadian Athlete of the Year on Thursday. Here's a case for why he should win. [Red Light District]

-When asked about his struggles against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, Hawks goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin kept it succinct: “I have to do better.” [CSN Chicago]

-One of the most highly-criticized statistics in the NHL in the modern era of advanced metrics is the plus/minus statistic, but it’s still interesting to see that Patrick Kane, who has improved on the defensive side of his game, is a minus-9 this season. [Daily Herald]

-Arguably the biggest threat facing a team in sports is complacency after winning a championship, and part of the reason that the Blackhawks were so confident in letting veterans like Dave Bolland and Michael Frolik go over the offseason was because they wanted to inject some new blood into the proceedings to keep things fresh. Brandon Pirri has been part of that, and guys like Brandon Saad and Andrew Shaw have also been taking on new responsibilities as part of that plan. [Chicago Sun-Times]

-We’re going to wrap up with two stories that aren’t specifically about the Blackhawks, but are very much worth your time anyway. In case you haven’t seen the news, Colorado Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov was arrested for domestic violence this week, and some of the allegations against him are downright horrifying. Sam Fels has an excellent editorial on the subject in his “Grinds My Gears” column, and how the sports world tends to turn a blind eye to violence against women. [Committed Indian]

-Finally, former Blackhawks forward John Scott was suspended for seven games for his hit to the head of Boston Bruins winger Loui Eriksson. [Chicago Tribune]

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