Blackhawks Practice: Jason Dickinson’s Season is Over

The Chicago Blackhawks held practice at the United Center this morning after taking their team photo. They are riding high following Sunday’s big 7-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The New Jersey Devils will be in town tomorrow night as the Blackhawks look for rare back-to-back wins. The mood was dampened when learning the fate of a trio of recently injured players.

Jason Dickinson To Miss the Rest of the Season

Saturday’s loss to the St. Louis Blues was one of the more eventful games of the season. Not only did Pat Maroon announce his retirement ahead of the game, but Jason Dickinson and Alec Martinez also left due to injuries that occurred in the same sequence.

Neither Dickinson nor Martinez took part in today’s practice. After the team was off the ice, interim head coach Anders Sorensen revealed that Dickinson would miss the rest of the season. He injured his left wrist while fighting Blues forward Jake Neighbours after Neighbours hit Martinez into the boards from behind. Dickinson’s disappointing season ends with seven goals, 16 points, and two significant injuries in 59 games.

Sorensen went on to say that Martinez is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury, as the team is calling it. Colton Dach, who hyperextended his elbow in last week’s loss to the Los Angeles Kings, will still “miss some time.” Sorensen did not say the injury is season-ending, so we should see him again before the finale on April 15.

Artyom Levshunov’s Future is Still in the Air

When defenseman Artyom Levshunov was recalled ahead of the March 10 game against the Nashville Predators, nobody envisioned him playing as well as he has. Through his first seven NHL games, he has two assists and nine shots on goal. He’s averaging 20:38 of ice time per game and is quarterbacking the top power-play unit.

The Blackhawks’ front office will have a tough decision to make by the end of the week. If he plays beyond Friday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights, the team will burn the first year of his three-year entry-level contract. Sorensen was asked this morning about the plan for Levshunov beyond the next two games.

“We’ll see here,” he said. “I think he’s done some really good things, some things we can all be better at. He’s a young kid learning to play. We talked about it, the ‘welcome-to-the-NHL moment’ last game. It’s a learning moment, but we’ll see how it goes here.”

Undoubtedly, the second-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft will return to the Rockford IceHogs at some point. The question is, will it be over the weekend or for the Calder Cup Playoffs after the Blackhawks’ regular season concludes?