The Blackhawks’ blue line took a big hit this afternoon with the team announcing that Seth Jones will not play tonight and will miss 3-4 weeks with a thumb injury.
Jones has been a minutes eater and a reliable piece atop the Blackhawks’ defensive pairings since coming to Chicago ahead of last season and his absence will surely be a big hit to the Hawks’ defense and their power play and penalty kill units.
Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson says that Seth Jones suffered the injury during the second period of last night’s loss to Buffalo on a blocked shot attempt and his adrenaline carried him through the remainder of the game.
Richardson said that Filip Roos will slot in on the bottom of the D pairings and he will bump Jake McCabe up to the top pairing with Jack Johnson tonight. Caleb Jones will take Seth’s spot on the PP1 unit and Roos will replace Caleb on the PP2 unit.
Richardson did not rule out skating with an extra forward on the power play tonight and said that while they might look to Rockford for help, that’s the plan for this evening.
Richardson also said that defenseman Ian Mitchell is working his way back but is not ready to rejoin the team yet, although they will have a clearer picture of his status later this week after he practices a bit.
Richardson acknowledged the impact that Jones’ absence will have on multiple facets of the Blackhawks game and discussed what they’re losing for 3-4 weeks: