As we crawl closer to the start of the NHL regular season, news can break at awkward times and some of it is more interesting than urgent. So here are some mid-afternoon Blackhawks bullets on Wednesday.
- The St. Louis Blues have rearranged the schedule for Saturday to avoid a fan conflict with the Cardinals hosting a playoff baseball game that night. So the Blackhawks-Blues game will begin at 2 PM CT.
- Head coach Luke Richardson hadn’t heard that the move was official before meeting with the media after practice earlier today, but said he likes the change. It will allow players some time to get home and have dinner with their families before the team heads to Denver a couple days early to get ready for Game One of the 2022-23 NHL regular season.
Updates on the health of a couple guys:
- Jujhar Khaira returned to the ice for practice on Wednesday. Richardson said his ankle is still sore from blocking a shot but he’s giving it a go. We’ll see how much he skates in the final two preseason games.
- Connor Murphy is still working through some lower back stiffness. He skated before practice today but didn’t join the team. Jake McCabe continues to take almost regular reps but is wearing a white non-contact jersey still (though he has made some contact lately and doesn’t appear to be any worse for it).
- No signs of Caleb Jones at the rink the last couple days.
- Paul Ludwinski skated with Murphy before practice. Richardson provided the following update on him:
- I asked Richardson about how he feels Colton Dach has looked since he returned from concussion protocol. Dach has looked really good both in practices before the prospect showcase (in which he got hurt after scoring a quick goal) and now with the NHL players. His shot is really good. It’s exciting that he’ll get some run with the NHL players in a preseason game on Thursday night apparently.
- There were a handful of guys from the Blackhawks on waivers yesterday so they could be sent to Rockford. All of them cleared today, meaning nobody took a shot on former first rounder Nicolas Beaudin.