Blackhawks Practice: Colton Dach Injury Not as Bad as Feared

The Chicago Blackhawks were back on the ice at Fifth Third Arena after last night’s 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. They have a busy weekend ahead of them, with an afternoon game at the St. Louis Blues tomorrow and another matinee back home against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.

Good News for Colton Dach

Late in last night’s loss, Colton Dach left with an apparent left arm injury. The injured arm was dangling as he headed to the bench, and he showed visible frustration before heading to the locker room. Interim head coach Anders Sorensen did not have an update on the extent of the injury during his postgame press conference.

As expected, Dach was not on the ice today with a left elbow injury, per a team press release. It sounds like the injury is not nearly as bad as it looked on Thursday night. Sorensen said Dach is day-to-day with a hyperextended elbow. He will not make the trip to St. Louis but shouldn’t be out for an extended time. In 25 NHL games this season, Dach has two goals, seven points, and 86 hits.

Lines Get Shuffled Again

With the Dach injury, we knew we’d see at least one new line this morning. All four lines have different looks, as this was how they took rushes today:

Ilya Mikheyev-Frank Nazar-Connor Bedard
Teuvo Teravianin-Jason Dickinson-Nick Foligno
Joe Veleno-Ryan Donato-Tyler Bertuzzi
Landon Slaggert-Lukas Reichel-Pat Maroon

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

“We’re trying to keep twos together as much as we can,” explained Sorensen. “We have Frank and Connor together, and we’ll throw Mickey up there. We know Dickie has been good in the middle with Fliggy and Teuvo in the past – they’ve had some really good games. In January, I think it was, they were really good together – so, let’s rekindle that.”

Sorensen credited Joe Veleno with a good game against the Kings, so he is rewarding him with a bump up to the third line with leading goal scorer Ryan Donato. Arvid Soderblom will get the start against the Blues tomorrow. Spencer Knight will be back in the crease against the Flyers on Sunday.