I want to open this morning’s bullets with something on the positive side because — let’s be honest, folks — Tuesday was a long day in Blackhawks land. Right before the news broke about Corey Perry getting launched I published a story praising the play of the Blackhawks’ fourth line in the two games leading into last night’s game against Seattle. I hope you go back and read it today because the comments from Reese Johnson and head coach Luke Richardson were perfect leading into the on-ice performance we saw yesterday. That line kept grinding, and the third line came with them for the ride — and it led to a win.
The Blackhawks’ bottom six has been going for a while now, even with some moving pieces. Jason Dickinson has been marvelous this month. Boris Katchouk has been effective. Ryan Donato‘s speed has made an impact. Reese has been physical. And even with Perry gone and Nick Foligno skating a top-six role, they’ve been able to lead the effort on the ice for the forward group. I wrote about the Blackhawks looking for a trickle-up effect from their grinders, and we saw that last night.
Here’s what Richardson said about them after the game:
Joey Anderson has been excellent for us since he’s been back here, much similar to how he did last year for us — we were very happy with him then, too. He’s coming in at the top of his game, he was leading Rockford in scoring, and he’s just a hockey player. He works hard, he’s got good intelligence out there and he’s determined. He stole a puck and outworked someone in the corner and went around the net and fed [MacKenzie] Entwistle on the goal, and he probably should’ve scored not long before that in front of the net. Those guys are heart-and-soul guys. Reese has been physical for us, blocking shots, killing penalties. He goes out there on the 5on3 and he actually won the faceoff but it hit the ref’s foot and bounced the other way, so a little unlucky there, but same thing — determined. That’s hopefully infectious to everybody throughout the team.
The Blackhawks aren’t practicing on Monday after a good win and with travel to Detroit coming, so we’ll have to wait and see how quickly they can get newly acquired forward Anthony Beauvillier into the mix and where he slots into the lineup. He isn’t a big guy, but he brings speed and skill with him. He’s an interesting addition at this time for a number of reasons, specifically with Anderson playing as well as he is right now.
A couple health updates from Richardson’s post-morning skate comments before the Perry implosion inhaled our entire afternoons/evenings before the game:
Andreas Athanasiou is hopefully going to start skating at some point next week (early December). Whenever he’s able to return, the Blackhawks will have to make some more decisions with their forward group in light of the addition of Beauvillier.
Jarred Tinordi is looking and feeling better (he skated with the team on Tuesday morning). He’s expected to make the trip with the team and might be activated soon. Which could make for a tough roster decision for the organization because Isaak Phillips has played well since being recalled.
After Tuesday night’s win, I asked Richardson about Phillips — who was on the ice during the late 3-on-5 penalty kill — being a guy they can trust and what they’d do when Tinordi is back. He said Phillips’ development would be better served with regular big minutes in Rockford than being in and out of the lineup in Chicago… which leads me to believe there’s no chance Tinordi would give Wyatt Kaiser a night off and they aren’t in a position to move on from Nikita Zaitsev yet. But I’d like to see Phillips continue skating with Kaiser — they’ve been good for each other.
Speaking of which… the Blackhawks reportedly had a scout in Toronto last night for the Panthers-Leafs game. Which is interesting because the Blackhawks don’t play either team again…
That becomes a more interesting conversation when we consider the Blackhawks having too many bodies in a few places, having a scout in Toronto to watch two teams the Blackhawks won’t face again this season, and the Leafs desperately needing to add to their blue line right now. Matt Larkin at Daily Faceoff looked at a few defensemen Toronto might consider, and while he didn’t include anyone on the Blackhawks’ roster one would have to think the surplus and Chicago’s ability to use their cap space to make a deal work for both sides could make that something to watch.
Here’s what Foligno had to say after the game about Perry’s departure. He was asked about shouldering more of the load with the veteran leadership with Perry gone and Taylor Hall done for the season because of his injury. He immediately noted how Dickinson has stepped up lately and how good he’s been all year. And while the players know nothing about the details surrounding Perry being gone, they’re standing with the organization doing the right thing to have the right culture in the room and all over the franchise.
Finally, it’s crazy season in baseball. We’ve dealt with our share of bullsh** rumors around the Blackhawks over the past week, so this tweet from the guys brought a wry smile to my face.
