The Chicago Blackhawks placed forward Andrew Desjardins on injured reserve and assigned winger Alexandre Fortin to his junior team and goaltender Ivan Nalimov to his KHL team, the team announced Monday.
Desjardins, 30, was injured blocking a shot in Saturday’s 2-1 preseason loss to St. Louis. The veteran winger, who is in third season with Chicago, will miss the first four to six weeks of the season with a lower-body injury, according to coach Joel Quenneville.
Fortin went from an undrafted prospect camp invitee in July to signing a three-year entry-level contract with Chicago last month. The Hawks were considering giving the 19-year-old a trial run in the NHL, but have decided to send him back to his junior team, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Due to his age, Fortin cannot play for the Hawks’ American Hockey League affiliate Rockford so he won’t be able to play for Chicago until his junior season is over. If he plays in fewer than 10 NHL games, the Hawks will not lose a year off his three-year deal.
Nalimov, 22, stopped 13 of 16 shots in his lone appearance in preseason for Chicago. He’ll head back to his KHL team, Vladivostok Admiral, where he has posted a 3.65 goals-against average and .864 save percentage in five games this season. In March, he signed a two-year contract extension with the club.
The Hawks goaltending situation is now set. Corey Crawford and Scott Darling are in Chicago, while Lars Johansson and Mac Carruth are with Rockford and Jake Hildebrand will play for ECHL Indy.