The injury keeping Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews out of the lineup is related to his back, reports Chicago Tribune’s Chris Kuc. Toews will miss his third straight game Tuesday night due to the injury, which he sustained in the second period of a game against the San Jose Sharks last week.
Kuc says the injury is “not considered serious,” which bodes with indications given from coach Joel Quenneville in recent days.
Back injuries can be tricky, though, and we can’t say it’s not a tad worrisome to hear the 28-year-old is dealing with an issue in that area. The team seems to be playing it safe to some degree by keeping him out of games, but it also needs him back anchoring the top of the lineup like he’s done for years. Hopefully “not considered serious” also means they don’t expect it to linger much at all, either.
“We’ll play it day by day,” Quenneville said Tuesday. “As soon as you see him on the ice you have an idea that he’s close to playing. Jonny wants to be out there in the worst way so we’ll do everything we can to get him back.”
Toews has recorded four goals and eight assists in 21 games this season. He’s also averaged 20:33 ice time, which would be his highest ATOI since the 2011-12 season, when he was just 23 years old. As he returns from a back injury, maybe the team will consider lessening that workload a little bit to put less strain on him.