The Chicago Blackhawks activated forward Andrew Desjardins from injured reserve on Saturday. The team also placed defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk on IR to clear roster space for Desjardins, who is slated to make his season debut Sunday at home against the Stars, per Chris Hine.
The moves do not impact the Hawks’ salary cap situation. Players need to be placed on long-term injured reserve in order to provide temporary cap relief, so Desjardins has been the books all season, TVR will stay on the books now, and Chicago’s roster remains at capacity.
Desjardins has been on IR since Oct. 10 after suffering a foot injury blocking a shot during a preseason game. He started practicing again recently — with newly installed skate protectors — and should give the Hawks another bottom-six option.
Last season, Desjardins was one of the Hawks’ top penalty killers and finished the season with 13 points in 77 points. He’s never been a major scorer, but brings some experience and defensive ability to a forward corps that’s not without needs.
One area where Desjardins may help is the penalty kill. The Hawks have used Jonathan Toews, Marcus Kruger, Marian Hossa and Tyler Motte as their primary PK forwards, with Motte replacing Desjardins from last year’s group. The PK has started recovering from its early-season disaster, but Desjardins should get some action there.
As for van Riemsdyk, he’s been out the past couple weeks since suffering a right arm injury against Columbus. He was given a five-to-six week timetable to recover, so we won’t see TVR back for a few more weeks, not that the Hawks have suffered much in his absence.