Yes, the Blackhawks have lost some ugly games in the last few weeks. But when you place those losses into context, they suddenly don’t look nearly as bad. Consider the following:
Jan. 19: 4-1 at Ottawa – This game was the Senators’ fourth win in a row; they would win 11 straight before finally losing on Saturday to the Leafs. In that stretch, the Sens would outscore their opponents 37-13 and would also beat New Jersey and Vancouver at home and Pittsburgh and Buffalo on the road.
Jan. 23: 5-1 at Vancouver- This game was also the Canucks’ fourth consecutive win at the time in the midst of a stretch of an 8-1-1 stretch. During that run, the Canucks would only lose to Ottawa and Phoenix while beating Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Vancouver would outscore opponents 35-23.
Jan. 30: 4-2 at Carolina – Again, the fourth win in a row for an opponent riding a hot streak. Yes, the Hurricanes’ record isn’t impressive, but they’re 7-3-0 in their last ten, with the victory over the Hawks in the middle of it all. In those ten games, the Canes outscored their opponents 35-23 (sound familiar?).
Feb. 5: 2-1 vs. Phoenix (SO) - This time at home, the Hawks were the Coyotes sixth consecutive victim in an 11-game stretch in which they went 9-2-0 and outscored opponents like Detroit, Calgary and Nashville 36-31. Maybe not the overwhelming numbers of the previous three opponents, but still a team that was scoring well over three goals per night. In fact, one of the two Coyotes losses was to a Washington team that hasn’t lost in 14 games.
Remembering that sprinkled among these losses were wins at Detroit, Calgary and San Jose, the Blackhawks have reasons to remain confident.
The grain of salt this laundry list of excuses comes with is that the Blackhawks could have, and should have, won all four of these games. The shootout loss to Phoenix was one of the worst efforts of the season, as the Hawks were outplayed in almost every aspect of the game. The loss in Carolina was at the end of a two-week road trip, but the Hawks had plenty of opportunities to win that game and didn’t finish. The games in Vancouver and Ottawa weren’t very good efforts from the Hawks’ goaltenders.
As we get into March, and the Hawks continue to press for the President’s Trophy, they will get their opponents’ best effort every night. Bringing a mediocre effort, like they did in the losses to Phoenix and St. Louis at home last week, will not only cost the team valuable points, but open players up to potential injury. Hopefully the win in St. Louis will help the team re-focus for a couple victories before the Olympics.
Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler had some strong words to share with a Vancouver radio station on Monday morning, sending some shots at the Blackhawks’ Andrew Ladd.
”He’s a coward and that’s the way it is,” Kesler told TEAM 1040 radio following Saturday’s game.
”It started last year in the playoffs,” Kesler said. ”He hit me (and) cross-checked me in the face when I wasn’t looking. At least he was man enough to hit me when I was looking this time.”
Man enough? Looks a lot like someone was on the dance floor and just forgot the steps to me…
Maybe the Blackhawks that will be back in Vancouver for the Olympics were a little excited to see the city. Maybe Antti Niemi was a little jacked up for his chance to fully grab the reins as the team’s number one netminder. Maybe the travel is finally getting to the Blackhawks.
Lots of excuses, none of which mean anything in the standings.
Roberto Luongo thoroughly dominated the Blackhawks, stopping 43 of 44 shots as Vancouver defeated the Blackhawks 5-1. As has been the trend from the Canucks, they took as many shots at/after the whistle as they could in an attempt to get into the heads of the Hawks, which hasn’t seemed to rattle the Blackhawks as much as it’s banged them up this year.
Of course, it was back in October that the Hawks lost both Ben Eager and Jonathan Toews in a game against the Canucks. On Saturday night, there were a number of liberties taken again by the home team in a game that wasn’t even as close as the score would indicate.
Niemi was yanked off the ice after allowing three goals on only 12 shots in the first period, and he certainly didn’t get any help from the skaters in front of him. As we saw in Ottawa, poor skating and mediocre passing killed the Hawks early, and against a goaltender like Luongo, giving up two cheap goals is usually enough. Cristobal Huet replaced Niemi and, despite a few good saves in the middle of the second period, didn’t end up doing much better than Niemi; Huet allowed two goals on 16 shots in his two periods of work. Overall, the Hawks only allowed five goals on only 28 shots. Not good.
Also a part of the Hawks game that suffered from lazy passing and poor skating was the offense. The spacing was miserable on all four of the Hawks’ power play opportunities, none of which they would score on despite having a clear advantage in chances.
Even a rare fight from Andrew Ladd, who landed a fantastic shot with his left hand in a brief altercation, couldn’t spark the team.
Something that might contribute to the poor effort could be the amount of time the Hawks will be spending in Vancouver; the team will spend three days in the Olympic city, the longest stop of the trip. Again, that’s nothing more than an excuse that doesn’t cover the fact that the team showed up flat on Saturday night and lost a game.
Jonathan Toews would put in the Hawks’ first, and only, goal in the middle of the third period, cutting the lead to 3-1 and giving at least a little breath to the Hawks offense. But Huet allowed a back-breaking fourth goal only 32 seconds later to Henrik Sedin, his second of the game, pulling the plug on any momentum the Hawks hoped to capture. Huet would allow another late goal to Henrik’s brother, Daniel, to finish the scoring for the night. The Sedins and Alex “I Pull Hair” Burrows all ended up with three points on the night.
What will become an interesting story to continue following for the Blackhawks as the trip continues will be the continuing issues in net; Niemi was given the opportunity to step up and earn more time between the pipes with his first consecutive starts of the season on Saturday, but his performance in the first period and subsequent removal from the game obviously indicates that he wasn’t good enough for coach Joel Quenneville’s taste in the game. However, the numbers weren’t good again for Huet, including the crucial fourth goal so quickly after the Hawks finally got on the board, that there is clearly more work to be done for the Blackhawks in net.
In interviews for a number of newspapers in Chicago on Friday and Saturday, GM Stan Bowman indicated that the Hawks are keeping all of their options open on the trade market and will certainly be able, financially, to add a player if needed. Brent Sopel’s been banged up lately, and was run into the boards late in the game on an icing play (another cheap shot from Vancouver), and the questionable play from Cam Barker since returning from injury makes the depth on the blue line another issue that might be addressed between now and the March 3 trade deadline.
With their victory, the Canucks jumped from sixth to fourth in the Western Conference.
The Blackhawks now have just three games left on the trip, with two seemingly easy games surrounding a big trip into San Jose that could carry President’s Trophy implications. The Blackhawks have now played as many games as the Sharks, 51, and trail San Jose by two points for the top spot in both the conference and the NHL. Tuesday night the Hawks will play in Edmonton, and then they’ll play at Carolina next Saturday.
After Saturday night’s game against the Canucks, the next time six of the Blackhawks are in Vancouver will be the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Patrick Kane will represent the United States in the games, while Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky will play for a darkhorse medal contender in Slovakia. Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook will all play for the host nation, Canada, as part of a team that is favored by many to win gold.
The Red Wings, Ducks and Canucks will all have seven players representing their countries in the Olympics, while the most represented team in the Western Conference will be the San Jose Sharks with nine players having been selected. Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler will be a teammate of Kane’s for the USA, while goaltender Roberto Luongo will play with Toews, Keith and Seabrook for Canada.
Kevin Bieksa, left, will miss up to three months.
TSN is reporting that the Vancouver Canucks learned Monday that star defenseman Kevin Bieksa will miss up to three months with severed tendons in his left ankle. The injury occurred when Bieksa collided with Petr Prucha of the Phoenix Coyotes on Dec. 29.
Bieksa, 28, will reportedly be in a cast for the next six weeks.
To date, the Vancouver defenseman has 16 points, 49 hits and 79 penalty minutes while averaging 21:48 on the ice per night. Bieksa was third on the Canucks in average ice time; the loss of the physical blue liner is a serious hit to the Canucks defense.
The Blackhawks travel to Vancouver on Jan. 23 during their two-week, eight-game road trip. So far this year, the Blackhawks have split two games with the Canucks. The Hawks lost at home 3-2 on Oct. 21, a game in which Bieksa played 24:55 and was credited with three hits. During the Circus Trip in November the Blackhawks squared the season series with a 1-0 win in Vancouver. In the second game, Bieksa led the Canucks again in ice time at 23:37 and was credited with one blocked shot.
Because there were so many injuries to key players early in the season, and the big names continue to fall, the beginning of December is a good time to look back, and forward, at when some of the top players in the Western Conference could return.
Central Division
Chicago:
Dave Bolland – had back surgery on November 10. Is expected to return in 12-16 weeks. ETA: post-Olympics?
Adam Burish – torn ACL in late September should cost him approximately six months. ETA: playoffs at best, likely 2010-11
Detroit:
Niklas Kronwall – sprained MCL on November 21 is expected to cost him two weeks. ETA: Dec. 7
Jason Williams – broke a fibula in early November and is expected to miss eight weeks. ETA: Christmas
Valterri Filppula – broken right wrist at the end of October expected to keep him out six to eight weeks. ETA: mid- to late-December
Johan Franzen – had surgery to repair torn ACL on October 16, beginning a six month recovery. ETA: maybe playoffs, more likely 2010-11
Columbus:
Rostislav Klesla – doctors discovered a torn groin and torn stomach muscle on Dec. 2, which could keep him out more than six weeks. ETA: at least mid-January
Nashville:
none
St. Louis:
DJ King – could have pins removed from his hand this week. ETA: soon?
Eric Brewer – lower body injury. ETA: this weekend?
Northwest Division
Calgary:
Colorado:
David Jones - tore his left ACL in late November, which should cost him roughly six months. ETA: playoffs at best, likely 2010-11.
Vancouver:
Pavol Demitra – has been recovering from summer shoulder surgery, and doesn’t have a firm timetable for return. ETA: after Christmas.
Edmonton:
Nikolai Khabibulin – is listed as day-to-day with back issues. He has missed a few games because of the injury. No ETA, but injury could be an ongoing concern.
Ales Hemsky – suffered a shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery. ETA: 2010-11.
Mike Comrie – diagnosed with mono on Nov. 16. ETA: TBD
Minnesota:
Martin Havlat – was retroactively put on the disabled list last week because of hamstring issues. Hopes to play Dec. 2.
Brent Burns – hasn’t played since Nov. 18 because of a concussion. ETA: TBD
Petr Sykora – hasn’t played since Nov. 7 because of a concussion. ETA: TBD
Pierre-Marc Bouchard – has only played in one game because of concussion-like symptoms. ETA: TBD
Pacific Division
San Jose:
Jody Shelley – hasn’t played since Nov. 7 because of “general soreness” and was placed on the disabled list on Nov. 30. ETA: TBD
Los Angeles:
Rob Scuderi – hasn’t played since Nov. 14 because of a lower body injury. ETA: soon? Did not play Dec. 1.
Ryan Smyth - has been out since Nov. 16 with an upper body injury, but has been cleared to skate with the team. ETA: soon.
Phoenix:
Peter Mueller - left Friday’s game with an injury and did not play Sunday. Status is still being determined.
Vernon Fiddler - left Friday’s game with an injury and did not play Sunday. Status is still being determined.
Ed Jovanovski - left Friday’s game with an injury and did not play Sunday. Status is still being determined.
Kurt Sauer – hasn’t played since the season opener because of head issues. ETA: TBD.
Dallas:
Anaheim:
Joffrey Lupul – was placed on the disabled list retroactively after missing five games with back spasms. ETA: TBD.
Kyle Calder – took a puck to the eye Nov. 28 and is expected to miss between two and four weeks. ETA: Christmas.
Ryan Carter – hasn’t played since Nov. 11 because of a foot injury. He’s expected to miss at least two more week. ETA: late-December.
Antti Niemi was spectacular on Sunday night, stopping all 30 shots he faced in the Hawks 1-0 win.
After not playing for almost a month, it would be understandable if Antti Niemi was a little rusty. Despite getting off to a solid start in the wake of Cristobal Huet’s early season struggles, Niemi has had to watch as the Hawks have buoyed their more expensive veteran’s confidence over the past few weeks.
Huet, to his credit has responded by playing magnificent hockey over the past couple weeks, making Niemi a lost man on the back of the bench. But in the middle of a long road trip, in the second half of back-to-back nights with games against tough opponents, Niemi was the man on Sunday night.
The Canucks had a great addition to their offense with Daniel Sedin returning after a long absence due to injury, and were hoping to get a big home win against a key conference opponent. Especially the team that knocked them out of the playoffs a year ago.
On October 21, the Canucks came into the United Center and not only beat the Hawks on the scoreboard, but left them wounded as well. That was the night that Willie Mitchell knocked Jonathan Toews out of the lineup for a couple weeks with a concussion, and Brent Seabrook also suffered a concussion that night that would cost him a few games.
These two teams have a physical history, and Sunday night would be a great test for the young Hawks to see how strong the Hawks were on the road.
The Hawks, and Niemi, responded with a great, clutch performance.
Just as they did in Chicago back in October, the Canucks took the Hawks offense out of the game early and never let the Hawks find their groove. They held the Hawks to just 17 shots on goal, with only four coming in the third period. Many of those shots weren’t very good looks, and Roberto Luongo didn’t give up many rebound attempts.
Meanwhile, Vancouver did as good a job as any team this year of getting the puck on the Hawks net. The Blackhawks only allow an average of roughly 22 shots per game, but the Canucks got 30 shots on Niemi, with 12 coming in the first period alone. Niemi was up to the task, though, matching Luongo round for round.
Ben Eager mixed it up twice Sunday.
It was obvious from the get-go that this would be a physical game. Nearly every time the whistle blew there was an exchange of words, and on a couple occasions there were offsetting penalties called; Ben Eager took two such penalties on the night. Eager got himself into two fights on the night, and came out looking like the victor both times. His fight with Rick Rypien in the first period saw Eager land a couple solid left handed shots to Rypien’s head.
As the game progressed it became clear that it was going to come down to which team found an opportunity and capitalized. Thankfully for the Blackhawks, Bryan Bickell’s headache from Saturday night was gone.
Bickell put back one of the few rebounds Luongo allowed all night just 72 seconds into the third period to give the Blackhawks the lead, and the defense handled the rest. Niemi notched his second career shutout in only six NHL starts, and the Hawks extended their winning streak to seven.
The Hawks have now swept the first half of their Circus Trip, and will have a couple days off before a big test in San Jose on Wednesday night. It hasn’t been made official yet, but Marian Hossa should make his first appearance for the Hawks against the Sharks.
It seems like just yesterday that many Blackhawks fans, including yours truly, were calling for the Hawks to make a permanent change at the top of their goalie depth chart.
Cristobal Huet went through a terrible stretch in the middle of October, and many of the issues that lost him the starting goalie job to Nikolai Khabibulin became glaring holes teams were taking advantage of regularly. Huet did not play very well in the Hawks loss in Detroit, and then infamously was pulled early in the first period of the Calgary game in which the Hawks climbed out of a 5-0 first period deficit to win 6-5 in overtime.
When the Calgary game felt like the bottom for Huet, the Dallas game five days later was perhaps his low point as a professional. After Antti Niemi started winning the fans’ favor, and played well enough for wins the Calgary and Edmonton games, Huet allowed four goals, at least two of which were embarassing, to the Stars in a tough home loss.
The fans were booing, and the rumor mill was swirling with questions about the Hawks willingness to continue giving the $5 million Frenchman chances when he had disappointed out of the gates for a team that was supposed to contend for the conference championship.
Names like Jaroslav Halak, Carey Price and Jean-Sebastian Giguere floated around the Blackhawks all over the web, and it was generally at the expense of Huet.
Then, on October 21, the Blackhawks collectively came out flat. They took the banged up Vancouver Canucks for granted, lost a game, and lost both Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews to concussions.
It was on that night, after suffering a 3-2 loss, that something clicked for Huet.
Perhaps it was the lost leadership of Seabrook and Toews forcing Huet to step up his game, or maybe it was the reality that he was on such thin ice, but Huet became every bit the goalie the Hawks paid the king’s ransom last summer.
Since that Vancouver game, Huet has started seven of eight games and has stopped 166 of 177 shots (93.7%). He has allowed more than two goals in a game only once in that stretch, and has lowered his goals against average to 2.21 for the season.
Once a goalie nobody wanted to see in the United Center, Huet just a couple weeks later ranks sixth in goals against average in the entire NHL and can be held personally responsible for the Hawks staying in a couple games when the offense didn’t show up for 40 minutes.
The two home games to begin this week-long four-game homestand have been great tests of Huet and the defense in front of him, and both have responded with exceptional performances.
Monday, the Los Angeles Kings came to town among the top five scoring offenses in the league, averaging over 3.30 goals per game. They were also averaging nearly 30 shots on goal per night.
The Blackhawks and Huet dominated the Kings, though. Huet stopped 17 of only 18 shots he faced in the game, and the offense responded to Toews’ return from injury to blow out the first place Kings 4-1 at the United Center. Even though there weren’t a lot of shots, there were tough chances from the Kings and Anze Kopitar, the league’s leading scorer, that Huet shut down well.
Wednesday, the Colorado Avalanche played the Hawks for the third time already this year and all three have been tight contests. The first two saw 17 shooters from each team give their best in the shootout before the two games were settled, with the two teams splitting the games.
Whenever a competitor faces another athlete performing at a high level, it’s interesting to see how he steps up his
game. For Colorado, Craig Anderson has been among the best goalies in all of hockey this season and was nothing short of spectacular on Wednesday night. Anderson allowed only two goals in regulation and the overtime period despite facing 39 shots. Huet needed to answer.
And he did.
Huet faced 24 shots through only two periods, more shots than the league-leading Hawks allow on average for an entire game (22.6). But to Huet’s credit, despite a number of hot rushes at the Hawks net and a number of opportunities in traffic for a shot to understandably slip past him, he didn’t fold.
Only two slid past him in the first two periods, and he shut out the Avalanche in the third and overtime. He was also superb in the shootout for a third time against Colorado, allowing only one of the three shooters to score.
Huet is now being cheered, not jeered, at the United Center. He has been as good over the last couple weeks as he was bad in the early part of the season, and has gained the favor of his coaches and the Blackhawks fans back.
October’s in the books, and now November begins with even more questions than answers in the NHL’s Western Conference. So many injuries have hit the rosters that it’s beginning to raise concerns that some teams, like Vancouver, might not be able to withstand the losses of players and games early in the year.
Other teams, like Colorado and Los Angeles, have jumped out of the gates with a stronger showing than expected. Anze Kopitar leads the league in scoring, and Craig Anderson in Denver has been phenomenal (former Hawks prospect, too).
So let’s put it on paper. How do the teams in the West stack up after one month of the season, and how do they project moving forward.
15. Minnesota (5-9-0 10 pts)
The Wild thought adding injury plagued players like Martin Havlat would help them compete for a playoff spot this year, but the chance they took with those checkered pasts has come to haunt them. They’ve been outscored 42-31 through 14 games. Injuries and sloppy play have left Minnesota the lowest scoring team in the league.
14. Anaheim (4-6-2 10 pts)
The Ducks aren’t so mighty right now, and have fallen well behind the Kings in their annual competition to be southern California’s best insignificant team. Ryan Getzlaf has only scored one goal in 12 games, and the team’s third leading scorer is James Wisniewski. If not for Corey Perry and Getzlaf, the team’s 34-42 point differential would look a lot worse.
13. St. Louis (5-6-1 11 pts)
They definitely have the Blues in St. Louis right now, as they’ve only been able to muster a 2-5-0 record at home so far. Their offense has disappeared, climaxing with consecutive shutouts to end the month of October. Not a single Blues player has reached double digits in points yet, and Chris Mason is allowing 2.74 goals per game.
12. Nashville (6-6-1 13 points)
Until their last three games, the Predators weren’t living up to their name. They’ve been outscored 38-28, the worst differential in the Western Conference, and have had issues settling on a goalie. Their last three games, though, have been exceptional and they may have not only found a goalie, but their offense has come alive. Pekka Rinne appears to have established himself as the top goalie, benefiting from a 10-5 scoring differential in those three games (including a shutout of the Blackhawks).
11. Detroit Red Wings (5-4-3 13 pts)
They’ve struggled to stay healthy so far this year, already missing key components from last year’s conference championship team from free agency. With two of their top three centers out for between eight weeks and four months, the Wings are desperately seeking defense. They’ve come out of the gate averaging 3.50 goals per game, but are allowing nearly four. If there’s anything to the rumors that Detroit’s going to make a strong play to add Peter Forsberg, they could be a dangerous team.
10. Edmonton (7-7-1 15 pts)
The Oilers paid a lot of money for the 2008-09 Nikolai Khabibulin, but have seen the goalie that was regularly booed in Chicago the two previous seasons. The Bulin Wall has allowed 3.12 goals per game so far, and the offense has skated hard to keep pace. They’re very much an average team that will struggle to break into the top eight spots this spring for the playoffs without a trade.
9. Vancouver (8-7-0 16 pts)
What happens when you take Daniel Sedin, Sami Salo, Pavol Demitra and Roberto Luongo out of multiple games? That’s just to mention a few of the Canucks’ injury concerns to start this season, and they’re understandably struggling to stay above .500 through a tough early schedule. Sedin and Salo are both expected to miss most of November, so the ice will stay thin for the Canucks.
8. Dallas (6-3-5 17 pts)
If only they faced Cristobal Huet every night! Their inability to get it done in regulation has killed a team trying to get much-needed early wins without Mike Modano. They’re only converting 17.7 percent of their power play opportunities, perhaps the biggest impact of Modano’s absence. If they can get healthy and play defense (3.25 goals against per game), they could be a playoff team.
7. Columbus (7-5-1 15 pts)
The Jackets are in second place in the Central behind a strong start from Rick Nash, but are being outscored after a month of action (42-46). They’re going to need to step up their defense to allow their strong offense to shine. Obviously, getting Jan Hejda back off injured reserve should improve their defense, and that could happen as soon as Wednesday. They just lost Andrew Murray for four weeks, though. Like many teams, health is an ongoing issue.
6. Calgary (7-4-1 15 pts)
The Flames have the best converting power play in the conference (27.8 percent), but they’re allowing 3.5 goals per game. They’re an older, veteran squad that hasn’t received what they had hoped for from Mikka Kiprusoff in goal, but have been pleasantly surprised by former Blackhawks wing Rene Borque, who leads Calgary in scoring to date.
5. Phoenix (9-5-0 18 pts)
The Coyotes, unlike Edmonton, haven’t missed Wayne Gretzky for one second and have admirably played through their off-ice distractions to have a solid start. They’re third in the Pacific Division, and have held opponents to just over two goals per game. The NHL might have bought the best goalie in hockey in bankruptcy court, too, in Ilya Bryzgalov; he’s allowing only 1.78 goals per night and has sprinted out to an 8-3-0 record.
4. Los Angeles (9-4-2 20 pts)
Their offense, led by Kopitar, is as good as it gets in the league (51 goals through 15 games), but they’re not doing a lot of the little things right to jump into the top spot in the Pacific. The Kings are only killing 74.1 percent of power plays, and are only 5-3-2 in their last ten games. They’ll need to allow fewer than their current three goals per game to win their division, much less the conference.
3. Chicago (8-4-1 17 pts)
The Blackhawks are certainly talented enough to end the regular season in the top spot in the West, but haven’t jumped to that spot yet. Missing Jonathan Toews for two weeks hasn’t help a strikingly unproductive power play (17.3 percent), but their defense has been good around Cristobal Huet’s roller coaster season. Once they get Toews, Eager and Hossa back, watch out.
2. Colorado (10-3-2 22 pts)
The Avalanche have followed Anderson’s lead between the pipes and sprinted to an early lead in the Northwest, and could expand their six-point lead on a banged up Vancouver team. The perfect storm might have landed in Denver to begin this season, as the Avalanche are playing well while the rest of their division gets hurt and plays poorly. They could run away with their division before the Olympics.
1. San Jose (10-4-1 21 pts)
They took the huge gamble this summer in adding Dany Heatley to their roster, and it’s payed off on paper so far. They’ve scored almost a full goal per game more than their opponents, have the second ranked power play in the conference (25 percent) and third-best power play killing unit in the conference (85 percent). Chemistry will be a theme to watch as this season progresses, though… Heatley has never been known for making friends.
Ben Eager skated with the team on Monday, and could return soon.
According to reports from the Blackhawks, Ben Eager was on the ice participating in drills today. Eager has been out of the lineup for the last ten games with concussion-like symptoms, but is nearing a return. Coach Joel Quenneville hasn’t put a firm date on Eager’s return yet, but the Hawks don’t play again until Thursday in Phoenix.
Marian Hossa has skated with the team a few times now, and is progressing well. Hossa has told a number of Chicago media outlets that he doesn’t have much strength in his surgically-repaired right shoulder yet, but is skating well and could rejoin the team in a couple weeks if he continues to work out well.
The one player that continues to concern Hawks fans is captain Jonathan Toews. He has not skated since Vancouver’s Willie Mitchell knocked him out of the Canucks-Hawks game on October 21, and he did not participate in the skate on Monday again. The team continues to monitor his progress, but there is no timetable in place for his return.
