Morning Skate Update: Kane returns; Davidson addresses media
Photo by Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images
After missing the last three games, Kane will be back playing Blackhawks hockey Saturday. A few news and notes from the morning skate ahead of Saturday’s Chicago Blackhawks game against the surging Seattle Kraken.
As was expected after Lukas Reichel’s re-assignment to the Rockford IceHogs, Patrick Kane was at the morning skate and will be returning to the Blackhawks lineup.
Kane appears very exciting to be playing hockey again:
Patrick Kane (lower body) is on the ice for morning skate.He’s expected to return tonight vs. Seattle, but we’ll see what the official word is from Luke Richardson after. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/gmzqBBDrWw— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 14, 2023
Patrick Kane says he’s feeling good and officially in the lineup tonight. He says missing the past 3 games has “felt like 3 months.”— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 14, 2023
Other than Kane replacing Reichel on the top line, there weren’t any other changes to the lineup that played against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. This includes Petr Mrazek getting the start in net, though it’s unknown if his backup will be Alex Stalock or Jaxson Stauber, both of whom were practicing with the Blackhawks.
Blackhawks lines in morning skate vs. Kraken:Kurashev-Domi-KaneTJohnson-Toews-RaddyshAthanasiou-Dickinson-EntwistleBlackwell-Lafferty-RJohnsonMcCabe-SJonesJJohnson-MurphyPhillips-CJonesMrazek in starter’s crease— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 14, 2023
Petr Mrazek is in the starter’s net this morning. Looks like he’ll get his second straight start tonight.Alex Stalock is on the ice for morning skate after missing the last few days with an illness. So is Jaxson Stauber, so not sure who will be the backup. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/DQQVquGp0C— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 14, 2023
In other injury news, Jarred Tinordi continued to participate in practices Saturday morning, but he’s not ready for game action yet. His expected return is around or after the 2023 NHL All-Star weekend which takes place Feb. 3-4.
Jarred Tinordi (facial fracture) is on the ice for morning skate.Luke Richardson said the other day he gets the hardware out from his mouth around the NHL All-Star break, so he’s still at least a few weeks away from being cleared for game action. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/93YwDcRCtc— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 14, 2023
After the morning skate, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson took some time to talk to journalists about two of the most pressing topics at the moment: the decision to send Reichel back to Rockford and an update on the Kane/Toews trade-front.
Davison rolled out the oft-used reason of having Reichel play “meaningful” minutes in Rockford. This makes sense only slightly because while Reichel did only play 12:31 against Colorado, he could have been given more NHL ice time if it’s what the organization wanted. The second part of Davidson’s reasoning is more understandable: Reichel will fare better with the IceHogs, who are a playoff team, versus the Blackhawks, who very much are not.
Davidson: "Let's call a spade a spade: We're chasing most games here, and I don't necessarily think that's conducive to extremely positive development. There's great situations in Rockford where our young players have to go out and defend a lead."— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 14, 2023
As for the future of Kane and Toews, Davidson wasn’t able to share: the Blackhawks haven’t met with the dynamic duo yet but will in the near future, and otherwise there haven’t been any major discussions with other teams about trades. The 2023 NHL Trade Deadline is March 3 this year.
Kyle Davidson said it's been "pretty quiet" on the trade front, with some teams doing their"due diligence." There's no planned meetings on the books with Kane and Toews, but Davidson said those will probably happen in the next two or three weeks.— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 14, 2023
The full video of Davidson’s discussion post-practice can be viewed here:
GM Kyle Davidson addresses the #Blackhawks media ahead of their matchup against Seattle and 24 hours after sending Lukas Reichel back to the #IceHogs ( @Mario_Tirabassi) Full video here: pic.twitter.com/aCiXRHxXjV— CHGO Blackhawks (@CHGO_Blackhawks) January 14, 2023
For Seattle, Martin Jones is the expected starter in net tonight — not surprising as he’s fresh off his back-to-back shutouts against the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins.
Martin Jones, again, is the first off the ice at morning skate. Likely Kraken starter against the Chicago Blackhawks, coming off back-to-back shutouts.— Kate Shefte (@KateShefte) January 14, 2023
Kraken lines were similar to when they played the Boston Bruins on Thursday. Ryan Donato was skating on the second-line in place of Jaden Schwartz, the latter of whom is a game-time decision. Connor Geekie slotted in as fourth-line center in place of Donato.
#SeaKraken lines this morning in Chicago (via @PiperShawTV @AlisonL & @ROOTSPORTS_NW team): Burakovsky-Beniers–Eberle*Donato–Wennberg–McCannTolvanen–Gourde–BjorkstrandTanev–Geekie–SprongDunn–LarssonOleksiak–SchultzSoucy–Borgen*Donato in Schwartz's spot (Schwartz a GTD)— Scott Malone (@ScottMaloneTV) January 14, 2023
Jaden Schwartz didn’t take the morning skate, which isn’t unusual. But Hakstol called him a “game-time decision.”— Kate Shefte (@KateShefte) January 14, 2023
As mentioned in the game preview, the Kraken is a team that scores by committee, especially during their current seven-game win streak.
.@SeattleKraken have won 7 straight. 13 diferent players have scored goals, 17 different players with atleast 1 point. The 3-0 win over Boston was the first game during the streak they did not score atleast 4 goals. They have given up 2 or less in 5 of the 7 with 2 shutouts. pic.twitter.com/2nNTG6w6NT— jonathan davis (@westcoasthky) January 13, 2023
Projected Lines
Blackhawks
Kurashev — Domi — Kane
T. Johnson — Toews — Raddysh
Seney — Dickinson — Athanasiou
Blackwell — Lafferty — R. Johnson
McCabe — S. Jones
J. Johnson — Murphy
Phillips — C. Jones
Mrazek
Stauber
Kraken
Burakovsky — Beniers — Eberle
Schwartz/Donato — Wennberg — McCann
Tolvanen — Gourde— Bjorkstrand
Tanev — Geekie — Sprong
Larsson — Dunn
Oleksiak — Schultz
Soucy— Borgen
Jones
Grubauer
...
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