Morning Bag Skate: Which Blackhawks will play in 2017 World Championships?

Commencing on May 5, the stars of hockey will descend upon Paris, France and Cologne, Germany, the settings for the 2017 IIHF World Championships. But with so many Blackhawks stars declining to represent their countries, how many names will Chicago fans able to pick out on the international stage?

BLACKHAWKS

**Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook declined to play for Canada (SCH)

**Patrick Kane will consider repping the Red, White, and Blue at the Worlds (SCH)

**Richard Panik won’t play for Slovakia, doesn’t want to risk an injury as RFA (SCH)

**Artemi Panarin will don a Russian sweater at the 2017 worlds, per a report (SCH)

**Marcus Kruger and Niklas Hjalmarsson are both considering playing for Sweden (SCH)

**Besides a Coach Q return, nothing else is guaranteed for 2017, says Bowman (ESPN)

**Several Hawks face an unknown future (Daily Herald)

**Scott Darling’s career with Hawks appears over, wants to start (Chicago Sun-Times)

**Should he stay or should he go? Campbell pondering Hawks or retirement (SCH)

**Blackhawks’ failure to launch will result in change (Daily Herald)

**Toews ready to evaluate off-ice tendencies to prep for next season (Chicago Tribune)

CENTRAL DIVISION

**RECAP: Paajarvi’s OT goal sends Blues to second round (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

**Mike Yeo led Blues to 4-1 series victory over former team (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

**Eric Staal was seriously injured after crashing into the boards Saturday (B/R)

**Wild, again, not good enough when it matters (Star Tribune)

**What should new Stars head coach Ken Hitchcock’s main priority be? (DMN)

**Avalanche can make changes without cleaning house (Denver Post)

**Jets defenseman Shawn Matthias got his season review (Arctic Ice Hockey)

NHL

**RECAP: Rangers win series 4-2 over Habs, advance to second round (Blueshirt Banter)

**RECAP: Oilers won their first series since 2006 last night, beating the Sharks (PHT)

**The finalists for the Veniza Trophy were announced yesterday (NHL.com)

**Leafs not ready for journey to end in Game 6 (TSN)

**NHL prospect Brandon Prust talks year in Germany, Maple Leafs, more (Puck Daddy)

**Seven Hurricanes to participate in Worlds, four will play for Sweden (Canes Country)

HOCKEY WORLD

**Previewing ‘Hockey Wives’ season three (Arctic Ice Hockey)

**NWHL goalie Brianne McLaughlin discusses her retirement (The Ice Garden)

**OHL Playoffs: Raddysh’s hat trick leads Otters over Knights in Game 2 (Sportsnet)

**QMJHL Playoffs: Armada even up series with Islanders (Sportsnet)

**WHL Playoffs: Thunderbirds beat Rockets 5-4 to take Game 1 (Sportsnet)

For international hockey events, do you root for your favorite players or your home country?