The Blackhawks were back to practice ice for one final time on Friday morning before they hit the road to resume game action after taking the last two weeks off for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
But practice was the secondary topic for much of the day, as defenseman Seth Jones was the popular figure of the Chicago locker room :
Seth Jones draws a crowd today pic.twitter.com/8XSCQgeaFb
— CHGO Blackhawks (@CHGO_Blackhawks) February 21, 2025
While Jones’ name has popped up in trade rumors for several seasons, those talks have come a little more to the forefront in the last week, with Ben Pope of the Sun-Times writing an article where Jones was about as publicly vocal on his desire for a trade as he’s been during his Chicago tenure. Still, Jones said he doesn’t intend to slack off on his present performances prior to any future move:
Seth Jones on his desired timeline for a trade:
— CHGO Blackhawks (@CHGO_Blackhawks) February 21, 2025
"We only control so much. As long as I'm here as a Blackhawks, I'm going to give 100% every night." pic.twitter.com/7t08pSipdL
The desire to play postseason hockey was high on the list of reasons for Jones’ public trade requests, which isn’t too surprising for a player who’s now 30 years old skating with a franchise that doesn’t seem to be in too much of a rush to return to the postseason:
Jones said he wants to "compete in the playoffs every year." He's looking to move to "a team that's not in a rebuild, that has pieces already to it, that's ready to go."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 21, 2025
Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones clarifies his reasons for exploring the trade market.
— CHGO Blackhawks (@CHGO_Blackhawks) February 21, 2025
“I think things are moving forward [in Chicago], but my timeline might be different from Kyle and Norm’s and the Blackhawks’.” pic.twitter.com/CReUDiEgZV
As for on-ice happenings, it’s been a while since we were able to dissect a practice lineup. So let’s do that!
PP1: Bedard, Donato, Bertuzzi, Teravainen, Jones
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 21, 2025
PP2: Nazar, Reichel, Smith, Maroon, Vlasic
Well, other than Teuvo being wasted on a checking line and Lukas Reichel still seeing fourth-line minutes, this isn’t too bad. Bedard and Nazar as the one-two punch down the middle is a good start, although it’d be really nice if Teuvo could be on one of those wings to help maximize some of the offense those two can generate. All the writing on the wall suggests Kurashev is not long for this rebuild, so perhaps throw him onto that checking line instead?
The good news on the blue line is that Louis Crevier was back on the ice after clearing concussion protocol this week. The bad news? What happened during practice:
Crevier is going to get stitches, Sorensen said, and they’ll “go from there”
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 21, 2025
If Crevier can go, it’d be great if Nolan Allan was bumped into that D pairing with Ethan Del Mastro and TJ Brodie watched from the press box. But we all know how that’s gone recently.
Chicago’s back to game action in Ohio on Saturday night when they’ll face the Columbus Blue Jackets.