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The Chicago Blackhawks gathered for their first post-Christmas practice on Monday with another round of roster shuffles preceding those happenings.
On the COVID-19 front, Chicago still has one player in the league’s protocols as defenseman Calvin de Haan was removed while goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was added:
MEDICAL UPDATE: Marc-Andre Fleury will not practice today (COVID-19 Protocol).
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) December 27, 2021
Defenseman Calvin de Haan has been removed from COVID-19 Protocol. pic.twitter.com/vupQSbISpS
The situation remains fluid, but having only one player in the protocol — even if it’s someone as important to the team as Fleury has been — is a pretty substantial benefit for the Hawks.
The Rockford IceHogs were not as lucky, though, with a bunch of players and coaches added to the COVID protocol on Monday:
Per the IceHogs, Interim Head Coach Anders Sorensen, forwards Garrett Mitchell, Dmitri Osipov, Mike Hardman, Carson Gicewicz and D.J. Busdeker and defensemen Nicolas Beaudin and Ian Mitchell have entered COVID-19 protocol.
— Greg Boysen (@GregBoysen) December 27, 2021
One other pair of organizational moves was made on Monday to fill the roster spot left vacant by Fleury’s absence and the team’s first addition to the taxi squad this season:
The Blackhawks have recalled goaltender Collin Delia from the @goicehogs and assigned forward Brett Connolly to the taxi squad.@Enterprise | ➡️ https://t.co/vTp2fPnIP0 pic.twitter.com/1v35tl9KJu
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) December 27, 2021
As for Monday’s practice, one of the primary focuses was on the penalty kill, which has been abysmal over the last month of the season:
#Blackhawks penalty kill working on denying zone entries. pic.twitter.com/p1qwgKswqO
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 27, 2021
For the 5-on-5 portions of practice, here’s what the lines looked like:
Blackhawks lines in practice:
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 27, 2021
DeBrincat-Borgstrom-Kane
Hagel-Toews-Strome
Kubalik-Dach-Kurashev
Carpenter-Entwistle-Khaira
Stillman-Seth Jones
McCabe-Murphy
De Haan-Caleb Jones
Gustafsson
Chicago’s Tuesday game against the Blue Jackets was already postponed. At the moment, the Blackhawks are scheduled to head north to play the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday evening. Here’s what practice looked like for the Jets on Monday:
#NHLJets lines today:
— Murat Ates (@WPGMurat) December 27, 2021
Stastny-Scheifele-Ehlers
Connor-Dubois-Harkins
Toninato-Lowry-Reichel
Beaulieu-Gustafsson-Suess
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Schmidt
Heinola-Stanley
Pionk in transit, per Dave Lowry. I'm not sure why the delay.
Copp, Ves: C19 protocol
Svech, Wheeler: hurt
Should that Wednesday game happen, coach Derek King already ruled out Fleury’s odds of being available for that game. King also provided an update on the team’s vaccination/booster shot status:
A "majority" of the Blackhawks have gotten the booster shot, King says, but he doesn't know if all have.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 27, 2021
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