Blackhawks defenseman Alec Martinez started off Thursday morning as a surprise absence from the morning skate and he’ll now be ending the day on injured reserve.
That’s the news which broke on Thursday afternoon, with a right groin injury sending the veteran defenseman to the sidelines while Isaak Phillips was recalled from the IceHogs.
As mentioned by a few beat reporters on Twitter, Martinez was dealing with a groin injury throughout training camp, and that same issue is what appears to be prompting this IR stint. There was no evidence in Tuesday’s game that he was having any specific problems, as his ice time of 18:59 was more than the 18:20 he skated in the prior game against Edmonton. Both of those numbers were well under the 24:31 he skated in the season opener against Utah, though.
Groin injuries can be tricky for any professional athlete, let alone a 37-year-old defenseman who’s played nearly 1,000 games between the regular season and postseason during a 16-year career. Probably better to err on the side of caution this early in the season, and this makes room in the lineup for the young blue-liners Chicago hopes to develop over the next few seasons.