A few news and notes from the morning skate ahead of Sunday evening’s Chicago Blackhawks game against the Calgary Flames.
The Blackhawks will once again be without their best player in Patrick Kane. He did participate in morning skate, but the team announced he wouldn’t play against the Flames. After Sunday’s game, Chicago doesn’t play again until Thursday when they take on the Colorado Avalanche, so it should give Kane more time to feel better before hitting the ice again.
Patrick Kane (lower body) won’t play tonight. The Blackhawks don’t want to risk a hit setting him back.
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) January 8, 2023
Jarred Tinordi also practiced with the Blackhawks Sunday morning, but he also is unlikely for the game Sunday. Tinordi has been out since Dec. 18 when he suffered a facial fracture during a game against the New York Rangers. There’s no official timeline on his return, but it could be imminent since he’s back practicing with the team — albeit in a face shield.
Jarred Tinordi (facial fracture) is on the ice for morning skate wearing a face shield. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/XzfhhrulHy
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 8, 2023
The lines and defensive pairings at practice were the same as the Arizona Coyotes game. Alex Stalock will get his second start in a row after his shutout on Friday.
Stalock confirmed starting
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 8, 2023
As for the Flames, they made a couple of roster moves yesterday, placing Brett Ritchie on injured reserve and recalling prospects Jakob Pelletier and Walker Duehr.
#Flames Roster Updates: Forwards Jakob Pelletier and Walker Duehr have been recalled from the @AHLWranglers.
In addition, Brett Ritchie has been placed on the Injured Reserve. pic.twitter.com/1tNAKWYRAP
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) January 7, 2023
It’s unknown which young player might slot into the lineup, considering the Flames have enough other players to build a lineup without them and the team is coming off an impressive win against the New York Islanders. The beat writers for the Flames had some differing opinions on what might happen with the two prospects:
Coming off a 4-1 victory, unless there are injury issues, I’d expect #Flames to stick with the same forward crew tomorrow in Chicago. Still, Pelletier has earned the call-up and his debut shouldn’t be far off now. https://t.co/8z2Z3SHskw
— Wes Gilbertson (@WesGilbertson) January 7, 2023
Initial thought is Duehr slots on 4th line during Ritchie absence…Sutter’s praised Duehr in the past & he plays a more fourth-line game than Pelletier.
The Pelletier re-call is intriguing…has some speed, but the team has an abundance of lefties…top9 has been same since Dec 20
— Salim Nadim Valji (@salimvalji) January 7, 2023
Flames recalling two forwards has me wondering if another forward beyond Ritchie is banged up? Typically, accumulating cap savings is a priority to maximize how much salary you can add later (e.g. via trade), so suddenly carrying 14 forwards is odd, even with them on a road trip.
— Darren Haynes (@DarrenWHaynes) January 8, 2023
But just to make everyone feel old:
If Jakob Pelletier dresses for the #Flames, he’ll be the first player born in the 2000s to ever play for the club.
(Dustin Wolf, a fellow 2001-born player, dressed twice as Flames backup last season but never participated in the games.)
— Ryan Pike (@RyanNPike) January 7, 2023
Projected Lines
Blackhawks
Kurashev — Domi — Reichel
T. Johnson — Toews — Raddysh
Seney — Dickinson — Athanasiou
Blackwell — Lafferty — R. Johnson
McCabe — S. Jones
J. Johnson — Murphy
C. Jones — Mitchell
Stalock
Mrazek
Flames
Dube — Lindholm — Toffoli
Lucic — Kadri — Huberdeau
Mangiapane — Backlund — Coleman
Ruzicka — Zohorna — Lewis
Hanifin — Andersson
Weegar — Tanev
Zadorov — Stone
Markstrom/Vladar