Blackhawks Practice: Martinez Returns, Bedard vs Celebrini

The Chicago Blackhawks practice this afternoon at the SAP Center as they prepare for tomorrow night’s game with the San Jose Sharks. The biggest question heading into today was the health of defenseman Alec Martinez, who was injured by blocking a shot in the first period of Monday’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche. The veteran defenseman was on the ice with his teammates.

However, Joe Veleno, acquired last week from the Detroit Red Wings, was absent due to illness. Pat Maroon, who was a healthy scratch in Denver, was back on the fourth line.

Here were the line rushes and defensive pairs, per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times:

Colton Dach-Connor Bedard-Jason Dickinson
Teuvo Teravainen-Ryan Donato-Ilya Mikheyev
Landon Slaggert-Frank Nazar-Nick Foligno
Pat Maroon-Lukas Reichel-Tyler Bertuzzi

Ethan Del Mastro-Connor Murphy
Alex Vlasic-Wyatt Kaiser
Alec Martinez-Artyom Levshunov

Connor Bedard vs Macklin Celebrini

We will finally see the two most recent number-one overall picks go head-to-head tomorrow night. Macklin Celebrini missed the first two games of the season series in October with an injury, so he’ll face Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks for the first time.

Celebrini is having a Calder Trophy-worthy rookie season, with 20 goals and 48 points in 54 games. Bedard was criticized for being a minus-44 in 68 games last season. Celebrini has struggled defensively too, with a minus-26 rating. His Corsi for percentage (CF%) is 57.2, better than Bedard’s 51.3 CF% in his rookie season, meaning he spends more time in the offensive zone than Bedard did last season.

Bedard has a goal and five points in four games against the Sharks. He had two assists in the Blackhawks’ home opener against the Sharks, a 4-2 victory. It will be fun to see these two budding superstars try to get the best of each other on the ice tomorrow.

New Helmet for Spencer Knight?

There has been nothing weird about Spencer Knight’s game between the pipes. However, seeing him wearing his Florida Panthers mask with his Blackhawks uniform is a bit odd. Last week, Knight said he was getting a new mask from Swedish artist David Gunnarsson. He’s one of the top artists in the world of hockey, with a client list that includes Sergie Bobrovsky, Linus Ullmark, Jeremy Swayman, and Jake Ottinger.

According to Mark Lazerus of The Athletic, Knight will have his Blackhawks mask tomorrow. Based on Gunnarsson’s past work, I’m sure it will look incredible.

Our full coverage of tomorrow’s game in San Jose starts with Morning Chirps bright and early. From there, we’ll have a complete game preview after morning skate, then a late-night recap chalked full of analysis once the game concludes.