With the first practice of the preseason coming up Thursday morning, the Blackhawks released their official training camp roster on Wednesday night.
There are 63 players on the roster, a number that seems awfully high, considering nearly two-thirds of that group won’t be at the NHL level when the Blackhawks open their 2021-22 season on Oct. 13 at the Colorado Avalanche.
Here’s a rundown of the roster by position:
Forwards (38): Andrei Altybarmakian, Evan Barratt, Henrik Borgstrom, D.J. Busdeker, Ryan Carpenter, Matej Chalupa, Brett Connolly, Colton Dach, Kirby Dach, Alex DeBrincat, MacKenzie Entwistle, Liam Folkes, Adam Gaudette, Carson Gicewicz, Brandon Hagel, Mike Hardman, Kale Horwarth, Reese Johnson, Tyler Johnson, Patrick Kane, Jujhar Khaira, Dominik Kubalik, Philipp Kurashev, Jalen Luypen, Riley McKay, Dylan McLaughlin, Garrett Mitchell, Cam Morrison, Alex Nylander, Dmitri Osipov, Jakub Pour, Lukas Reichel, Josiah Slavin, Dylan Strome, Michal Teply, Jonathan Toews, Chris Wilkie, Chad Yetman
Defensemen (18): Nolan Allan, Nicolas Beaudin, Louis Crevier, Calvin de Haan, Ethan del Mastro, Jakub Galvas, Caleb Jones, Seth Jones, Wyatt Kalynuk, Michael Krutil, Chad Krys, Jake McCabe, Ian Mitchell, Connor Murphy, Isaak Phillips, Alec Regula, Ryan Stanton, Riley Stillman
Goaltenders (7): Tom Aubrun, Collin Delia, Marc-Andre Fleury, KEvin Lankinen, Cale Morris, Arvid Soderblom, Malcolm Subban
Eleven players are on professional tryouts: Aubrun, Busdeker, Folkes, Gicewicz, McKay, McLaughlin, G. Mitchell, Morris, Osipov, Stanton, and Wilkie.
Stanton is the most interesting name on that list, as Stanton made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks, playing one game during the ‘12-13 season. He played 118 games with Vancouver and one more with Washington but has not appeared in the NHL since the ‘15-16 season, playing in the AHL since then.
Horwarth is designated as an amateur tryout by the Blackhawks website.
Last season’s training camp roster reveal included Nylander, Toews and Kirby Dach being listed as “unfit to participate” following their injury issues last December. There were no such surprises with this year’s training comp roster reveal.
Chicago’s first practice is on Thursday morning at 10 a.m. from the Fifth Third Arena and a full practice schedule is available at the Blackhawks official website.
The first preseason game set for next Wednesday at the United Center against the Detroit Red Wings.