Blackhawks Bits: Caleb Jones out approximately 6 weeks; roster down to 32

A flurry of roster moves and injury updates arrived on Friday morning, as the Chicago Blackhawks inch closer to the first game of the regular season next Wednesday.

The initial news wasn’t good, as defenseman Caleb Jones’ reported “wrist soreness” has been diagnosed as a left wrist strain that will have him out until, roughly, mid-November:

A trio of veterans were absent from Friday’s practice as indicated above, with several other young players also gone after multiple roster moves that trimmed Chicago’s roster down to 32. Among the moves were:

• Colton Dach, Chicago’s 2021 second-round pick, was re-assigned to his junior team, the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets
• Nolan Allan, Chicago’s 2021 first-round pick, was re-assigned to the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders
• Forwards Evan Barratt and Dmitri Osipov were re-assigned to the Rockford IceHogs

Those moves gave perhaps the clearest look we’ve seen at what the Blackhawks lineup could be for next week’s season opener:

This is especially true on the blue line, where the injuries to Caleb Jones and Wyatt Kalynuk have left room for Ian Mitchell, Jakub Galvas and Nicolas Beaudin to be among the parent club’s members come next Wednesday.