Blackhawks Bits: Forward lines shuffled; Lafferty, Tinordi sidelined

Nov 29, 2022 - 6:45 PM

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A couple news items from Tuesday’s Chicago Blackhawks practice.

First, injuries to forward Sam Lafferty and defenseman Jarred Tinordi will have each sidelined for a bit:

Tinordi has not skated since last Friday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, while Sam Lafferty appeared to depart early from last Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Stars and has remained out since skating just 7:07 in that game.

The silver lining here is that Tinordi’s absence could open up more ice time for youngster Filip Roos, who has been in the lineup while Tinordi was sidelined.

Elsewhere in injury news, backup goaltender Alex Stalock does not appear to be close to returning to the lineup based on how his recovery from a concussion has unfolded:

Stalock hasn’t played since suffering that concussion just a few minutes into a Nov. 1 game against the New York Islanders.

As far as the Blackhawks who were present for practice on Tuesday, a lineup shuffle was implemented by coach Luke Richardson among the team’s forwards, with the most noticeable development happening at the top:

The bottom six has been shuffled plenty, but the top six has remained intact for much of the season, save for the replacement of Tyler Johnson in the lineup after his injury. While it’s an obvious move to put Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews together, Richardson pointed out that it’s not something he’s done before:

We’ll find out if that line change makes any difference when the Blackhawks host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night at the United Center.