On Monday, those of us who attended the Blackhawks’ practice at Fifth Third Arena were hoping for a roster update for Tuesday night, when the Vancouver Canucks visit Chicago. And by roster update, we were thinking whether or not Pat Maroon and Joey Anderson were healthy enough to be back in the lineup.
Not that Philipp Kurashev would be a healthy scratch.
When the Blackhawks took the ice, Kurashev and Anderson were in black jerseys. And as the team took line rushes, Kurashev was indeed on the outside of the lineup. After practice, head coach Luke Richardson confirmed that Kurashev was not part of the lines for Tuesday’s game and gave this rationale:
“To me, he’s a guy that I’ve gotten used to counting on and he can’t play the way he did the last game for me to continue to count on him like that. I know he’ll use it as a bit of a wake-up call and be better.”
Kurashev, 25, had a terrific season playing primarily on Connor Bedard‘s wing last year. He set new career highs in every offensive category. But he’s been the Blackhawks’ primary second-line center this season and the points have not come as easily. In three games since scoring his first goal of the season in Edmonton, Kurashev put only one shot on net, had four penalty minutes and was minus-four.