Blackhawks Health Updates: Lots of Moving Pieces, Kane’s Return ‘Doubtful’ for Thursday
The Blackhawks have a lot of moving pieces right now, with players getting healthy and others appearing to be out of the lineup. So let’s jump into what we took away from practice on Wednesday before the defending champion Colorado Avalanche visit the United Center tomorrow night.
- Patrick Kane — skated before practice but did not participate with the rest of the team. Head coach Luke Richardson said Kane is “doubtful” for Thursday night.
- MacKenzie Entwistle — was back on the ice with the full team and was taking regular work with the third line.
- Jarred Tinordi — was on the ice with the full team again today but was not working with the regular defensemen.
- Alex Stalock — still wasn’t at practice (sick – non-COVID) so the Blackhawks called up Jaxson Stauber from Rockford (and sent Brett Seney back to the IceHogs). Richardson said Petr Mrazek is the confirmed starter for Thursday.
So what does this all mean?
Sending Seney back to Rockford, to me, indicates Entwistle can go on Thursday night. He was taking regular rushes in practice, which is a great sign. Tinordi being close to coming back will force a roster decision, which most likely means Isaak Phillips will go back to Rockford and get top-pair time (which is good for him).
Here’s how the Blackhawks skated at practice on Wednesday:
Lukas Reichel — Max Domi — Philipp Kurashev
Tyler Johnson — Jonathan Toews — Taylor Raddysh
MacKenzie Entwistle — Jason Dickinson — Andreas Athanasiou
Colin Blackwell — Sam Lafferty — Reese Johnson
Jake McCabe — Seth Jones
Jack Johnson — Connor Murphy
Isaak Phillips — Caleb Jones
🥅 Petr Mrazek / Jaxson Stauber
Boris Katchouk and Ian Mitchell were skating as extras.
