The Blackhawks returned to the practice ice on Wednesday between a pair of home games at the United Center, with a disappointing result from Tuesday night still lingering over the team.
Up first on the update list was news on defenseman Seth Jones, who was sent to IR earlier this week:
Richardson said Seth Jones will be out four weeks (right foot).
— Tracey Myers (@traceymyers.bsky.social) 2024-11-20T18:29:22.683Z
While one veteran will be out until nearly Christmas, another is apparently set to return as soon as Thursday night after a brief absence:
Drew Commesso reassigned to Rockford. Richardson said the Blackhawks expected Petr Mrazek (personal reasons) to be back today, and looks like he is.
— Tracey Myers (@traceymyers.bsky.social) 2024-11-20T20:31:38.574Z
Outside of those two items, the other news of the day involved another shuffle of the forward lines, primarily focused further down the lineup where it appears Philipp Kurashev will be getting a birds-eye view of the Florida Panthers on Thursday night:
Looks like Kurashev is the odd man out again. Hard to argue. Here are the #Blackhawks lines today:Bedard-Dickinson-AndersonBertuzzi-Foligno-MikheyevHall-Donato-TeravainenMaroon-Reichel-SmithVlasic-MurphyAllan-MartinezKaiser-Brodie
— Greg Boysen (@gregboysen.bsky.social) 2024-11-20T17:40:00.942Z
Given how woeful the Blackhawks offense has been lately, one might wonder if some reinforcements are on the way. This is especially true of Frank Nazar, who’s up to 15 points (7 G, 8 A) in 12 games with Rockford. Colton Dach (11 points in 13 games) and Cole Guttman (10 in 13) are also candidates here.
But coach Luke Richardson shot that idea down:
No plans to bring up any of the top prospects in Rockford. Sticking to the long-term plan of letting them run wild in the AHL. Levshunov not really an option yet as he makes up for lost time.
— Mark Lazerus (@marklazerus.bsky.social) 2024-11-20T18:31:03.986Z
Here’s the full video of Richardson’s comments, in case you were curious:
#Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson says he and the organization are pleased with Frank Nazar's development, but it sure sounds like the plan is for him to stick in Rockford for the time being. pic.twitter.com/gAiUdvrttw
— CHGO Blackhawks (@CHGO_Blackhawks) November 20, 2024
When Chicago and Florida meet on Thursday night, it’ll be the team that’s currently atop the NHL standings against the team currently sitting at the very bottom.
Guess which team is which!
