Morning Bag Skate: Blackhawks return from bye week against Islanders

Chicago Blackhawks return from their bye week by hosting the New York Islanders on Saturday at United Center.

HAWKS

**Luck of the draw hasn’t been kind to Hawks centers (Chicago Sun Times)

**Will Crawford return this season? That’s Hawks’ ‘expectation and hope’ (The Athletic)

**Former Blackhawk of the Week: Eric Daze, the 2002 NHL All-Star Game MVP (SCH)

**Why Hawks won’t place Crawford on LTIR as long as he might come back (SCH)

**Scotty Bowman thinks Crawford has post-concussion syndrome (SCH)

**How much does Crawford’s injury change the Hawks’ plans? (SCH)

**Can the Hawks survive without Crawford? (SCH)

CENTRAL DIVISION

**Yeo: Time for Blues to play ‘desperate’ (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

**Preds strengthened, calmed by Ellis’ return from injury (The Tennessean)

**Nieto’s breakout season has come at perfect time for Avs (Mile High Hockey)

**Jets recall Roslovic, Hutchinson (Arctic Ice Hockey)

**How much of Jets success is due to head coach Paul Maurice? (Arctic Ice Hockey)

NHL

**Friedman’s 31 Thoughts: Defensemen flooding market ahead of trade deadline (Sportsnet)

**RECAP: Panthers defeat Golden Knights in OT in Gallant’s return (NHL.com)

**RECAP: Niemi gets 1st win for Habs in victory over Capitals (NHL.com)

**RECAP: Kelser, Ducks hand Kings 6th straight loss (NHL.com)

**Rangers’ Shattenkirk out indefinitely after knee surgery (Blueshirt Banter)

**Oilers’ Nugent-Hopkins out 5-6 weeks with cracked ribs (Copper N Blue)

HOCKEY WORLD

**RECAP: No. 1 Notre Dame tops No. 18 Wisconsin for 16th straight win (South Bend Tribune)

**RECAP: No. 20 Michigan shuts out No. 12 Penn State (Black Shoes Diaries)

**RECAP: No. 5 Denver shuts out No. 15 UNO (The Denver Post)

**RECAP: No. 7 UND’s penalty kill continues struggles at No. 14 Duluth (Grand Forks Herald)

**Flyers prospect Wade Allison out for season for Western Michigan (SBNCH)

**QMJHL roundup: Chainey scores OT winner in Mooseheads win (Sportsnet)