Ben Pope of the Sun-Times reported that injured Blackhawks defensemen Wyatt Kalynuk and Caleb Jones were on the ice this morning working together at Fifth Third Arena, indicating that the pair are progressing towards a return to game action.
Wyatt Kalynuk and Caleb Jones are skating and practicing together at Fifth Third right now, well before Blackhawks practice. It seems they're both progressing back well from their injuries.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 26, 2021
Kalynuk went down with an ankle injury sustained in practice in early October and hasn’t suited up for the Blackhawks this season. Caleb Jones suffered a left wrist strain just days after Kalynuk and was expected to miss roughly six weeks. It’s been three weeks since both players went down, so this is roughly the halfway point in their expected timelines to return to game action.
Just a reminder that Jones is on LTIR, so it's still going to be a bit until he's back (10 games AND 24 days). https://t.co/8DsdajY1wn
— Tracey Myers (@Tramyers_NHL) October 26, 2021
The Blackhawks’ struggling defense could definitely use Kalynuk and Jones sooner than later, so this is a positive development for them.
Chicago is also still dealing with COVID-19 issues on both sides of the bench, with Patrick Kane, Riley Stillman, and Jujhar Khaira are still in the COVID-19 protocols. In addition, assistant coaches Marc Crawford and goaltending coach Jimmy Waite are also in the protocols. Hopefully, we will have a better idea of the statuses of these players and coaches after practice today.