Blackhawks Bits: Toews, Lankinen to miss upcoming three-game road trip
Chicago was back on the ice for practice on Tuesday.
Hey, remember the Chicago Blackhawks?
They haven’t been seen since a disastrous 5-0 loss at home to the Minnesota Wild last Wednesday night, which somehow wasn’t the worst part of that evening.
Fresh off the All-Star break, the Blackhawks were back on the ice for practice on Tuesday morning ahead of a three-game road trip to Edmonton, St. Louis and Winnipeg.
A handful of players will not be on that venture, including captain Jonathan Toews — who remains in concussion protocol — and backup goaltender Kevin Lankinen, who’s still dealing with a hand injury.
King also said Jonathan Toews, Kevin Lankinen, Jujhar Khaira, Reese Johnson, and Tyler Johnson will not be on the trip.
— Joe Brand (@Joe_Brand1) February 8, 2022
The Johnsons could be back by late Feb/early March. Khaira is getting a 2nd opinion. Toews might be doing some limited exercises, but they're being cautious.
To keep the roster full, Chicago recalled a trio of players from Rockford while sending a goalie back to the IceHogs:
#Blackhawks are back from the All-Star break and have recalled Jakub Galvas, Josiah Slavin and Arvid Soderblom from Rockford ahead of their three-game trip. Collin Delia has been sent back to the IceHogs. https://t.co/KoWJaj1MXG
— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) February 8, 2022
Consider us excited to see more of Jakub Galvas in the next week as one of the few bright spots for the team over the last few months. And it appears that Galvas will be in the lineup at the expense of Erik Gustafsson, which should not raise too many complaints:
#Blackhawks lines and pairings:
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) February 8, 2022
Kubalik-Strome-Kane
DeBrincat-Dach-Hagel
Kurashev-Slavin-Lafferty
Borgstrom-Carpenter-Entwistle
de Haan-S. Jones
McCabe-Murphy
C. Jones-Galvas
*Connolly and Gustafsson are the odd men out
That’ll do it for Tuesday’s updates. We’ll see if the Blackhawks figured anything out over the long weekend when they face the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night. Edmonton was bordering on a complete meltdown after a 2-11-2 stretch in December and January but appears to have emerged from that downward spiral after winning five of their last six.
