The end of a long sports week brings a much welcomed weekend, and the beginning of the NHL Rookie Tournament in London, Ontario. The Blackhawks will be represented by many of their best young players at the event, which will see the team play at least three games. I’m not sure how to help you guys watch this on TV, but it appears Rogers will at least be broadcasting the team’s matchup against the Maple Leafs in Canada. Onto the news!
**The HBO production of 24/7 is dead, meaning the Blackhawks and Capitals won’t be featured uncensored on the cable network this year. That’s terribly disappointing news, but … (Second City Hockey)
** … it appears we won’t be left empty handed. The NHL will be “announcing an exciting, new 2015 [Winter Classic] ‘All Access’ partnership” on Sept. 23. I have no idea what exactly that means but it’s pretty clearly a new documentary series, so we’ll have to see who’s involved. (NHL PR)
**An illuminating look into how different teams alter their strategies after building up leads by Jen LC (The Committed Indian)
**The NHL announced its rule changes for the 2014-15 season on Thursday, including a ban of the spin-o-rama in shootouts and attempts to address diving (Puck Daddy)
**The Wild finally got Nino Niederreiter under contract for three years and $8 million after some brief flirtation with the KHL. Pretty good value for Minnesota. (Star Tribune)
**Toronto has extended training camp invtations to defensemen Henrik Tallinder and Brendan Mikkelson (Pro Hockey Talk)
**Do you remember the Oakland Seals? I don’t because I’m just a youngin’ but Adam Gretz takes a look back at one of the NHL’s early attempts to break into non-traditional markets (SB Nation)
**The Rangers are officially taking a gamble on Ryan Malone after agreeing to a one-year, two-way deal worth $700,000 with the forward (New York Post)
**Marc-Andre Fleury hopes to re-sign with the Penguins even though he’s eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)