Injury Updates, Reichel (and Others) to Rockford, Barzal Gets the Bag, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

Oct 05, 2022

After an off day on Monday the Blackhawks were busy on Tuesday. They made their first really significant roster cuts of the preseason — including a few players being placed on waivers — and had a few injuries to deal with after the weekend’s games.

Right off the jump this morning, a couple injury updates from yesterday. Head coach Luke Richardson said Caleb Jones‘ shoulder injury that took him out of the game this weekend isn’t as bad as it might have looked — “relatively good news” — and he’s still in the day-to-day category.

When asked about Connor Murphy‘s back, Richardson noted that Murphy has been one of the best conditioned players in the organization the last two years at the start of camp so they aren’t necessarily worried about his back being an issue right now. As Richardson said, he’s a veteran and knows what it takes to be ready and they’re letting him get there.

So while those two injury updates feel relatively positive on the surface, adding those two to Jake McCabe being out for a couple months means the Blackhawks’ blue line could potentially be three youngsters with Seth Jones, Jack Johnson and Riley Stillman to start the season against the defending champs in Denver.

Jujhar Khaira (ankle) did not skate with the team on Tuesday.

It likely had more to do with being shutout twice over the weekend than Khaira and Boris Katchouk missing from the lineup, but Richardson threw his forward lines in a blender yesterday. We saw 19 and 88 reunited (and it feels so good) and the new guys mixed up across the other three lines. Here’s what the coach had to say after practice about the new look:

#Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson on mixing his lines up today pic.twitter.com/fQ81utLBku
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) October 4, 2022

Lots of buzz around the Blackhawks sending Lukas Reichel to Rockford on Tuesday. Is it right for the immediate? And how do we balance the long term impact of his development with the glaring needs on the current NHL roster?

How do we feel about the #Blackhawks sending Lukas Reichel back to Rockford?https://t.co/34xZD01BfI pic.twitter.com/4pEYwB4PJD
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) October 4, 2022

Here’s some of what Luke Richardson had to say about the move after practice on Tuesday:

"Instead of…battling to stay in the [NHL] lineup in a 4th-line role…why not go down and be the best center down there? Work on your game, get a little harder in 1-on-1 battles, manage the puck and light it up. So when you get a chance here, you're firing on all cylinders."— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 4, 2022

If you read my post on the subject, you know where I stand on this move. Is he good enough to be on the Blackhawks? Probably — but that statement says more about the players on the NHL roster than it necessarily does about Reichel being ready for a top-six role in the NHL every night right now. Let him develop.

Reichel wasn’t the only roster move for the Blackhawks on Tuesday. They placed four players on waivers to send them down to Rockford and also assigned five other skaters — forwards Josiah Slavin, Michal Teply, Mike Hardman and Cole Guttman and defensemen Isaak Phillips and Jakub Galvas — to the IceHogs.

On NHL waivers today. pic.twitter.com/55iMM3py9t
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) October 4, 2022

One interesting player on waivers is defenseman Nicolas Beaudin. The Blackhawks selected him in the first round (27th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft (the same first round as Adam Boqvist) but he’s only appeared in 22 games at the NHL level. As a former first round pick who is still young — he turns 23 on Friday — a team claiming him off waivers would need to feel he’s ready for an NHL spot. Could it happen? Yes. Will it? I doubt it based on his resume but the recency of him being a first-rounder makes it at least something to consider being possible.

Not throwing shade here because Phil’s really good people, but this one hurts bud.

“It’s definitely stressful but it’s what you kind of signed up for, right?”

Earlier today I introduced myself to Blackhawks F Mike Hardman, shook his hand and asked him about going through roster-cutting time at camp.

This afternoon he became one of those cuts. My bad, Mike. pic.twitter.com/bAeRSUkMe2— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) October 4, 2022

Since we’re on the subject of the IceHogs, their training camp is ready to roll and they, too, have preseason games on the calendar. Garrett Mitchell will be the captain in Rockford this season. Mitchell and the head coach shared some thoughts on the team’s social yesterday.

Hockey is back! @KatieFlorio caught up with IceHogs Head Coach Anders Sorensen & Captain Garrett Mitchell before the team headed to Iowa today!

Get ready for preseason action coming up this week! pic.twitter.com/pByyEknNHS— Rockford IceHogs (@goicehogs) October 5, 2022

After getting officially sent back to his junior team, Samuel Savoie made an appearance in their dressing room on Tuesday morning. And even they know to smile when Savoie is in the house!

Souriez! Sam est de retour 😁

Smile! Sam is back 😁#goOLgo♠️ pic.twitter.com/LHbyaEyBtB
— Olympiques de Gatineau (@OlympiquesGAT) October 4, 2022

Matthew Barzal got paid. The Islanders announced an eight-year deal with their best forward on Tuesday, worth a reported $9.15 million per.

“I absolutely love the fans here. They’re seriously so unique. They’re one of a kind. Everyone is such a die-hard Islander fan.”

More from Mat Barzal following him signing an 8 year deal with the Islanders. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/AlANlygKEM— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 4, 2022

Finally, congrats to Aaron Judge for establishing a new American League record of 62 home runs last night. And here’s a tip of the cap to Brian Cashman, who now needs to negotiate a long-term extension with a guy who bet on himself and blew up.

He Did It: Aaron Judge Hits Homer Number 62https://t.co/mUOrOkcEEm pic.twitter.com/AW0fvh4bxU
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) October 5, 2022

written by

Tab Bamford

Tab Bamford has been writing about the Chicago Blackhawks for almost two decades. He joined Bleacher Nation as the lead Blackhawks writer in May 2022. Tab is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and is the author of two books about the Blackhawks: "100 Things Blackhawks Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die" (Triumph Books) and "Chicago Blackhawks: An Illustrated Timeline" (Reedy Press, 2021). Find him on Twitter/X/Instagram/Threads at @The1Tab

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