The Blackhawks have swapped out three free-agent invitees for their roster for this week’s 21st annual NHL Prospect Tournament in Traverse City, Michigan.
Forwards Shawn Element and Luke Bignell and goaltender Nico Daws are now out in favor of forward Sean Josling, right winger Cole Purboo and goaltender Nick Kossoff. Daws was an OHL teammate of Blackhawks prospect MacKenzie Entwistle with the Guelph Storm.
Statement from the Blackhawks:
“The Blackhawks followed past protocol when submitting in their roster for the tournament, but due to complications in the agreement between the National Hockey League and the Canadian Hockey League, were forced to make some roster changes.” https://t.co/PfO3CGU2bc
— Jimmy Greenfield (@jcgreenx) September 5, 2019
This sucks.
Nico Daws had his NHL invite cancelled due to a glitch at the Chicago Blackhawks end of things.
Tough when you work hard all summer to earn that and it gets taken away at the last minute.— Tony Saxon (@SaxonOnTheStorm) September 1, 2019
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Purboo had a team-high 55 points (29 goals, 26 assists) in 68 OHL games with the Windsor Spitfires last season, while Josling (6-0, 179 pounds) put up 52 points (22 goals, 30 assists) in 62 games with the neighboring Sarnia Sting. Kossoff (6-2, 183 pounds) posted a 17-8-2 record with a 2.42 goals-against average in 27 games for Lake Superior State University.
Purboo won the Memorial Cup with Blackhawks prospect Graham Knott in 2017 in Windsor. Josling attended the Red Wings training camp on an amateur tryout in 2017.
Other free-agent invitees include forwards Riley McKay and Isaac Nurse. McKay was WHL teammates with Blackhawks prospect Kirby Dach with the Saskatoon Blades last season, while Nurse skated with Entwistle and the Hamilton Bulldogs (2016-19).
The tournament will be Sept. 6-10 at Centre Ice Arena.