After months of trades, signings, camps, and reminders of how wildly disappointing last season was, the Chicago Blackhawks return to the ice Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT to face the Columbus Blue Jackets in preseason action.
It’ll be the first chance to see several new Hawks in an actual game, including Jan Rutta, Laurent Dauphin, Cody Franson, and David Kampf. It’ll also be a chance to watch 2017 first-round pick Henri Jokiharju, who is listed on the roster for the game.
For the Blue Jackets, it’ll be a more of a star-studded lineup as they try to build some excitement for the home crowd. New star winger Artemi Panarin (seems familiar!) will be playing on a top line with 2016 first-round pick Pierre-Luc Dubois and Nick Foligno.
On defense, Columbus will have star blue liners Seth Jones and Zach Werenski suiting up.
You’ll notice the Hawks’ lineup is almost devoid of veteran players. Other than AHL goalie Jeff Glass, the only players listed over the age of 30 are all on PTOs: Franson, Drew Miller, John Mitchell, and Mark Stuart. There will be no Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews, and arguably more notably, there will be no Alex DeBrincat.
Projected lineups
Blackhawks
Laurent Dauphin — Nick Schmaltz — Tomas Jurco
Drew Miller — David Kampf — John Hayden
Lance Bouma — John Mitchell — Kyle Baun
Matthew Highmore — Graham Knott — Vinnie Hinostroza
Henri Jokiharju — Mark Stuart
Michal Kempny — Jan Rutta
Gustav Forsling — Cody Franson
Anton Forsberg
Jeff Glass
Matt Tomkins
Blue Jackets
Artemi Panarin — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Nick Foligno
Alex Broadhurst — Carter Camper — Vitaly Abramov
Tyler Motte — Sam Vigneault — Nick Moutrey
Markus Hännikäinen — Lukas Sedlak — Miles Koules
Gabriel Carlsson — Seth Jones
Zach Werenski — Blake Siebenaler
Dean Kukan — David Savard
Joonas Korpisalo
Matiss Kivlenieks
How to watch Blackhawks vs. Blue Jackets
Start time: 6 p.m. CT
Location: Nationwide Arena, Columbus
TV: CSN Chicago Plus, NHL Network