Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook will sit out the team’s game against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday due to an illness, the team announced. This is the first game that the 30-year-old has missed in his 11th season as a member of the team.
Viktor Svedberg will take his place in the lineup. The pairs for the game will be as follows:
Keith-Hjalmarsson
van-Riemsdyk-Ehrhoff
Svedberg-Rozsival
Not much else is known about Seabrook’s status other than that he’s sidelined Tuesday. The Hawks have two days off following their matchup in Minnesota, so it’s possible the defenseman will be ready to return for the team’s Friday night game against the Winnipeg Jets, which concludes a four-game road trip.
Seabrook has been one of the most durable players in the NHL in recent years. He played all 82 regular-season games in 2013-14 and 2014-15, not to mention countless playoff games. This is his first missed game since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. No player has appeared in more games — regular season and playoffs combined — since the beginning of the 2009-10 season, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noted in his 30 Thoughts column.
The defenseman has a career-high 13 goals and 29 assists in 76 games this season. He’s set to begin an eight-year, $55 million contract extension next season.