The Chicago Blackhawks are giving another young star a chance to step up within their organization and develop in to the producer many believe they can be. That young star is Alexander Nylander, whom the Blackhawks acquired from the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday in exchange for defenseman Henri Jokiharju. Nylander is signed through the 2020-2021 season and is set to make $863,333 per season.
The 21-year-old was called up in 2017 by the Sabres as their top prospect at the time, and has gotten his face in the national scene by playing for Sweden in the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship. He helped them to a silver medal in that tournament. Nylander ended up playing just 12 games for the Sabres this past season, recording two goals and two assists near the end of the season. He did play well in the AHL in 2018, scoring a career-high 12 goals with a career-high tying 19 assists in 49 games played.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche have faith in the growth that their young team showed last season in their Stanley Cup Playoff run, which led to them locking in head coach Jared Bednar on Tuesday. The Avalanche gave Bednar a two-year contract extension, keeping him with the team through the 2021-2022 season. This comes off their 38-30-14 season, which got them to the playoffs for the second time in three seasons. They even got their first Stanley Cup Playoff series victory since 2008.
The 47-year-old has spent three seasons with the Avalanche, this after replacing Patrick Roy on August 25th, 2016. In those three seasons, he has gone 103-116-27, with playoff appearances in his first and third years. Bednar released a statement on Tuesday, expressing his excitement to be locked in with the team, and his gratitude toward the organization for believing in him. The Avalanche have an exciting atmosphere around them right now, not only coming off their first playoff series victory in over a decade, but the fact that they had even more young talent just emerge at the end of last season, which will hopefully develop them in to a more serious Stanley Cup contender in the years to come.
The 21-year-old was called up in 2017 by the Sabres as their top prospect at the time, and has gotten his face in the national scene by playing for Sweden in the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship. He helped them to a silver medal in that tournament. Nylander ended up playing just 12 games for the Sabres this past season, recording two goals and two assists near the end of the season. He did play well in the AHL in 2018, scoring a career-high 12 goals with a career-high tying 19 assists in 49 games played.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche have faith in the growth that their young team showed last season in their Stanley Cup Playoff run, which led to them locking in head coach Jared Bednar on Tuesday. The Avalanche gave Bednar a two-year contract extension, keeping him with the team through the 2021-2022 season. This comes off their 38-30-14 season, which got them to the playoffs for the second time in three seasons. They even got their first Stanley Cup Playoff series victory since 2008.
The 47-year-old has spent three seasons with the Avalanche, this after replacing Patrick Roy on August 25th, 2016. In those three seasons, he has gone 103-116-27, with playoff appearances in his first and third years. Bednar released a statement on Tuesday, expressing his excitement to be locked in with the team, and his gratitude toward the organization for believing in him. The Avalanche have an exciting atmosphere around them right now, not only coming off their first playoff series victory in over a decade, but the fact that they had even more young talent just emerge at the end of last season, which will hopefully develop them in to a more serious Stanley Cup contender in the years to come.
