Blackhawks Bits: Forward lines shuffled; Lafferty, Tinordi sidelined
A few news and notes from Tuesday’s practice.
A couple news items from Tuesday’s Chicago Blackhawks practice.
First, injuries to forward Sam Lafferty and defenseman Jarred Tinordi will have each sidelined for a bit:
Luke Richardson said Jarred Tinordi (hip) and Sam Lafferty (back) will be out at least a week. Tinordi could be out longer. #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 29, 2022
Tinordi has not skated since last Friday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, while Sam Lafferty appeared to depart early from last Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Stars and has remained out since skating just 7:07 in that game.
The silver lining here is that Tinordi’s absence could open up more ice time for youngster Filip Roos, who has been in the lineup while Tinordi was sidelined.
Elsewhere in injury news, backup goaltender Alex Stalock does not appear to be close to returning to the lineup based on how his recovery from a concussion has unfolded:
Alex Stalock was progressing well but was pulled back a bit the last couple days as he works his way back from a concussion.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) November 29, 2022
Stalock hasn’t played since suffering that concussion just a few minutes into a Nov. 1 game against the New York Islanders.
As far as the Blackhawks who were present for practice on Tuesday, a lineup shuffle was implemented by coach Luke Richardson among the team’s forwards, with the most noticeable development happening at the top:
Blackhawks lines in practice, featuring a Toews-Kane reunion:
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 29, 2022
Athanasiou-Toews-Kane
Kurashev-Domi-Raddysh
Khaira-Dickinson-Blackwell
Katchouk-Entwistle-RJohnson
JJohnson-SJones
Roos-Murphy
McCabe-CJones
The bottom six has been shuffled plenty, but the top six has remained intact for much of the season, save for the replacement of Tyler Johnson in the lineup after his injury. While it’s an obvious move to put Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews together, Richardson pointed out that it’s not something he’s done before:
Richardson on putting Toews on a line with Kane: "I know it's been done before, but *I* haven't done it."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) November 29, 2022
We’ll find out if that line change makes any difference when the Blackhawks host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night at the United Center.
