Brandon Saad will play against the Coyotes Thursday at the United Center after wearing a white jersey as a healthy scratch earlier this week.
Brandon Saad on wearing a white jersey in practice: “I don’t think anyone wants to be wearing white around here. But it is what it is. There’s nothing you can do except keep trying to improve. It’s their job to make the call to put the best team out there to win hockey games.”
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) October 15, 2018
Saad, who will turn 26 on Oct. 27, has only been a healthy scratch once in his Blackhawks career back on April 6, 2014, when Chicago played the Blues in the fourth to last game of the season. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said the decision “wasn’t a tough one,” according to Mark Lazerus of The Athletic.
Saad, who signed a six-year contract worth $36 million in 2015 in Columbus, returned to Chicago in 2017 in a swap for Artemi Panarin. The return looked promising at the start for Saad, who scored six goals in the first six games. But Saad’s production didn’t last as he scored only 12 goals with 17 assists the rest of the way on the top line with Jonathan Toews.
Quenneville moved Saad down to the second line with center Nick Schmaltz and winger Patrick Kane to start this season, but Saad hasn’t produced. Saad only had one assist in four games before Quenneville demoted him to the fourth line and moved up Alexandre Fortin in his place for the Blackhawks’ 4-3 overtime victory Saturday at the United Center. Saad logged a season-low 10:14 minutes on the ice and an assist in the win.