Blackhawks Notes: Injuries, Lardis, Boisvert
The Blackhawks were without a pair of players for their game tonight against Colorado. Head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link) that winger Andrew Mangiapane and defenseman Louis Crevier were both injured on Thursday in Minnesota. There’s no word on how much time either player might miss. Mangiapane has a goal and an assist in seven games since coming over in a trade from Edmonton earlier this month while Crevier has held his own as a full-time NHLer this season. He has 17 points in 66 games along with 73 blocks and 107 hits while averaging a little under 17 minutes of ice time per night.
More from Chicago:
- When Chicago recalled winger Nick Lardis after the trade deadline, it looked like he was in line to get an extended look down the stretch. However, he has averaged just 10:33 per game of ice time since the promotion. That led Pope to question how the team has used the 20-year-old. While Blashill has talked about trying to see how Lardis fares in a more limited role to give him a better opportunity to establish himself in the NHL, the youngster has averaged just shy of a point per game in the minors this season and could use a boost in their top six. Giving him a chance in that role could have longer-term benefits than showing that he can handle a fourth-line role if needed.
- Prospect Sacha Boisvert’s NHL debut will have to wait a little longer. Scott Powers of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that the 20-year-old’s visa paperwork has yet to be processed. Accordingly, it’s more likely that he debuts next week on Chicago’s road trip. Boisvert, a first-round pick in 2024, recently signed his entry-level contract and is burning the first year of that down the stretch. He won’t play enough to accrue a year of service time toward UFA eligibility and if he doesn’t play in at least 10 games down the stretch, Boisvert wouldn’t be eligible for an offer sheet in 2028.
Blackhawks Recall Dominic Toninato
Forward Dominic Toninato is back with the Blackhawks. After being shuffled between the NHL and AHL Rockford a couple of times earlier in the year, he’s been recalled again today, per a team announcement.
Toninato signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Hawks last summer after spending the previous five seasons as a depth option for the Jets. He cleared waivers early in training camp, and he hasn’t seen enough time on the NHL roster this season to need to clear them again. The 6’2″ pivot has brought some much-needed veteran scoring punch to Rockford, leading the IceHogs with a 16-27–43 scoring line in 52 games. In five NHL appearances earlier this year, he had one assist and a +1 rating while averaging 9:12 per game and going 10-for-22 on faceoffs (45.5%).
He’s sticking around through next season at an $850K cap hit and figures to slot into a similar role, somewhere around #15 on Chicago’s forward depth chart and a #6ish option down the middle. The club has opted to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen as of late, with Oliver Moore out with what could be a season-ending injury and Sacha Boisvert still awaiting his work visa after signing his entry-level contract earlier this week. Sam Lafferty has been a healthy scratch, so Toninato doesn’t qualify as an emergency recall unless someone else is hurt, but there could be an opportunity for him to step into the lineup tonight against a former team of his, the Avalanche, as a result.
Toninato has rarely been a regular outside of his run as Winnipeg’s full-time 4C in 2021-22, appearing in a career-high 77 games that year. He’s still now suited up in nine straight NHL seasons, putting up a 13-23–36 scoring line in 194 games along the way with a +13 rating.
Tim Erixon Announces Retirement
- Former NHL depth piece Tim Erixon has retired, he told Nathalie Vinroth of Swedish newspaper Sundsvalls Tidning this week. The 23rd overall pick by the Flames in the 2009 draft, he went on to play 93 games in parts of four years with the Rangers, Blue Jackets, Blackhawks, and Maple Leafs. He last saw NHL ice in 2015 and last played in the minors in 2019 before returning home to bookend his career in the Swedish Hockey League. The 35-year-old won an SHL championship with the Växjö Lakers in 2021 and has been with Timrå IK ever since, although he’s played just six games since the beginning of 2024-25 due to ongoing back issues aggravated by a foot fracture.
Blackhawks Sign Sacha Boisvert
3/16: As expected, the Blackhawks have announced the signing of Boisvert to his entry-level contract. The deal will cary a $974,167 cap hit. Boisvert will join the Blackhawks’ active roster, as the deal begins immediately and runs through the 2027-28 season.
3/8: While the Blackhawks will be missing the playoffs once again this season, there could still be roster reinforcements coming down the stretch. Top prospect Anton Frondell is expected to come to North America once his season in Sweden ends and it appears another center will be joining him. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times relays that Chicago plans to sign Sacha Boisvert when his college campaign comes to an end and have him debut in the NHL.
The 19-year-old was a first-round pick in 2024, going 18th overall after a strong showing with USHL Muskegon. Since then, Boisvert has played in college. Last season, Boisvert notched 18 goals and 14 assists in 37 games with the University of North Dakota but still opted to transfer to Boston University this season. Production has been harder to come by in 2025-26 as he has just three goals and 13 assists in 24 games.
However, that doesn’t appear to be deterring Chicago’s desire to sign him. Assistant GM Mark Eaton indicated that he feels Boisvert’s style of play is better suited to the professional ranks than the college game and their intention to sign him coming off a quiet year suggests they’re not too concerned about the limited production.
While it might seem counterintuitive to have a young player burn the first year of his entry-level deal in a lost season (something that won’t be the case for Frondell given his age), GM Kyle Davidson hasn’t shown much hesitance in doing so. Just last year, Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore, and Ryan Greene did just that, as did Frank Nazar the year before. It appears that Boisvert will be joining that group in the near future.
Wyatt Kaiser Out Day-To-Day With Upper-Body Injury
- Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser will be held out of tonight’s contest against the Vegas Golden Knights as he manages an upper-body injury, reports Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. Head coach Jeff Blashill indicated Kaiser would be fit to return to the lineup in time for Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Wild. According to Pope, Kaiser’s absence tonight “seems mostly precautionary.” It’s a notable loss for Chicago, even if it’s only a brief one, as Kaiser has been the team’s No. 3 defenseman in terms of time on ice per game this season. Through 61 games, Kaiser has scored five goals and 12 points playing an average ice time of 19:12. He’s under contract through next season at a $1.7MM AAV.
Blackhawks, Senators To Play 2026 Global Series In Germany
The Blackhawks and Senators will head to Düsseldorf, Germany, to play a pair of regular-season contests on Dec. 18 and 20 as part of the 2026 Global Series, the NHL announced this morning.
They will mark only the second and third games the league has played in Germany, at least among regular-season contests. The Sabres and Kings headed to Berlin to open the 2011-12 campaign. That ended up being the last regular-season game outside North America for over six years, until the NHL launched the Global Series brand by sending the Avalanche and Sens to Sweden in November 2017.
This will be Ottawa’s third time participating in a Global Series event and their seventh and eighth European regular-season games overall, although it will be their first outside of Sweden. They had a back-to-back against the Penguins in Stockholm in 2008, again in Stockholm against Colorado in the aforementioned 2017 Global Series, and games against the Red Wings and Wild there in November 2023.
The Hawks’ history with European play is much sparser. They made it there to play a back-to-back with the Panthers in Helsinki to open the 2009-10 season, and didn’t return until 10 years later to play a one-off with the Flyers in Prague. This will only be their fourth and fifth European contests as a result.
Outside of North America, the Sens have been virtually unbeatable. They have a 5-0-1 record in those games, and their lone overtime loss came in their European debut (Tyler Kennedy had the winner for the eventual Cup champion Pens). The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are 1-1-1.
Of course, this won’t translate to a reduction in home games. Each club will still have 41 on its schedule next season, as the regular-season length jumps from 82 to 84 games under the new CBA extension.
Blackhawks Reassign Drew Commesso
The Blackhawks are sending goaltender Drew Commesso back to AHL Rockford, per Tracey Myers of NHL.com. He had been recalled under emergency conditions over the weekend after Spencer Knight was sidelined with an illness, but he’s now cleared to return and will be available for tomorrow’s road outing against the Mammoth.
Now in his second season seeing NHL action, the 23-year-old has made three starts for the Hawks this year, posting a .918 SV%, 2.31 GAA, and a 2-1-0 record. That’s a significant step forward from what the 2020 second-rounder showed in his first NHL start last year, allowing four goals on 24 shots against the Devils in his lone appearance. After recording a win over Utah on Monday in his only showing on this call-up, he’s now saved 1.6 goals above expected and, in a small sample, has been Chicago’s analytically strongest goalie this year on a per-60 basis with a 0.528 GSAx/60, per MoneyPuck.
Nearly six years on from being drafted, Commesso remains Chicago’s top goalie prospect and is the #7-ranked player in their pool overall, writes Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. His promising NHL starts this season do run in contrast to what’s been a career-worst season for Commesso in Rockford, though. After coming up with a .906 and .911 SV% in his first two pro seasons, respectively, he’s logging a .899 SV% and 3.07 GAA in 28 games this year with a 9-16-3 record. Those numbers aren’t all on Commesso, though – Rockford has been a tough defensive environment this season, and those are still far superior numbers to backup Stanislav Berezhnoy‘s.
Blackhawks’ Oliver Moore Out Multiple Weeks
The Blackhawks will be without center Oliver Moore for at least a “couple of weeks” due to an undisclosed injury, head coach Jeff Blashill said last night (via Tab Bamford of Bleacher Nation). Chicago only has 12 healthy forwards without him, but with just six minor-league forwards under NHL contract, they’ll be mindful of recalling anyone unless they absolutely have to, so as not to decimate AHL Rockford’s roster.
Moore, 21, hadn’t missed a game since his recall in November until getting tangled up with Stars forward Colin Blackwell behind the net Sunday night. He left the game and was immediately ruled out for yesterday’s overtime loss to the Mammoth, which wasn’t a good sign for his long-term availability. With just over five weeks left in the regular season, there appears to be a chance this is season-ending for Moore.
It’s been a good rookie season from Moore, who’s stuck mostly on the wing in a middle-six role but has seen some time at center, too. The 19th overall pick in the 2023 draft signed out of the University of Minnesota last spring and began his NHL career with four assists in nine games with the Hawks to close out the schedule. He didn’t make the opening night roster in the fall, but after lighting up Rockford with nine points and a +8 rating in nine games, Chicago recalled him less than a month into the schedule.
Moore’s skating and two-way acumen, not necessarily his production ceiling, were what got him drafted that high. Mission accomplished on the former. Moore ranks in the 83rd percentile or higher in the four skating speed stats tracked by NHL EDGE, and especially excelled with 131 bursts between 20 and 22 miles per hour, sitting in the 91st percentile there.
If it’s the end of the road for him in 2025-26, he ends his rookie year with a 5-14–19 scoring line in 51 games with a -15 rating. That’s not awful production for a first-year player by any means, and it’s good for 10th in scoring on a Chicago team with a bottom-10 offense. His possession impacts didn’t blow anyone out of the water, but were certainly fine in a tough environment in the Windy City. His 47.1% Corsi share ranks sixth among Blackhawks forwards, and his 48.0% expected goals share ranks second at 5-on-5 (min. 50 minutes), per Natural Stat Trick.
The Blackhawks would have loved to see more of Moore down the stretch. They’ll lose him, but should see the addition of at least one first-round pick on offense in the coming days. 2024 #18 pick Sacha Boisvert will be joining the team after his sophomore season with Boston University ends, which could be as soon as tomorrow if they’re upset by last-place Vermont in the first round of the Hockey East tournament. Last year’s third overall selection, Anton Frondell, is also expected to be recalled from his loan to Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League when his season ends. The SHL’s regular season ends this weekend, but Djurgården has all but booked a spot in the play-in round.
Blackhawks Recall Nick Lardis And Drew Commesso
The Blackhawks have made a pair of roster moves before tomorrow’s game in Dallas. The team announced that winger Nick Lardis and goaltender Drew Commesso have been recalled from AHL Rockford.
It’s the second recall of the season for Lardis, whose first stint with Chicago lasted nearly six weeks. During that stretch, he got into 21 games, his first taste of NHL action. The 20-year-old certainly made a strong first impression, collecting five goals and two assists in those appearances while logging 12:39 per game of ice time. He has been considerably more productive with Rockford, however, tallying 18 goals and 14 assists in 35 games with the IceHogs in his first season with them.
As for Commesso, it’s also his second stint with Chicago of the season, although his first look was much shorter, lasting all of three days. However, he did make a pair of starts in that stretch, turning aside 55 of 60 shots while winning one of those two contests. The 23-year-old has played in 28 games with Rockford, putting up a 3.07 GAA with a .899 SV%. With Spencer Knight unavailable due to illness for a second straight game, Commesso will likely dress as the backup to Arvid Soderblom.
Because of Knight’s absence, Commesso’s recall will qualify as an emergency one and thus will not count against Chicago’s post-deadline regular recall limit which is up to five this season. Unless there is another injury or illness up front, however, the promotion of Lardis will count against their recall limit.
Troy Murray Passes Away
Former NHL forward and longtime Blackhawks broadcaster Troy Murray passed away on Saturday at age 63, the team announced. Murray had battled cancer since first publicly sharing his diagnosis in 2021, still serving as the team’s radio color analyst for most of that time up until this season.
Murray had two separate stints in Chicago as a player, totaling nearly 700 games over 12 seasons. The first started when they drafted him in the third round in 1980, preceding a highly successful two-year stint at the University of North Dakota – including captaining Canada to a gold medal at the 1982 World Juniors – before turning pro in 1982 and immediately becoming a fixture in the Hawks’ lineup. He spent the remainder of the decade as one of the league’s top defensive centers, winning the Selke Trophy in 1985-86 while routinely putting up 50-plus points. He had five consecutive 20-goal seasons from 1984-89.
The second half of Murray’s career was as more of a journeyman, but a highly valuable one. He was traded to the Jets in the 1991 offseason for rugged defender Bryan Marchment and was immediately named Winnipeg’s captain. A year and a half later, they shipped him back to the Hawks at the 1993 deadline for a hopefully long playoff run after they reached the Cup Final the year before, but they were swept out in the first round in a significant upset by the Blues. Murray was traded twice in each of the next two seasons – first to the Senators in 1994 and then to the Penguins in 1995 – before signing on with the first-year Avalanche for 1995-96 after their relocation from Quebec. That was the last NHL season of his 15-year career, but he ended it with a Stanley Cup win, suiting up eight times in the Avs’ march to their first Cup.
Murray played one more pro season, captaining the Chicago Wolves (then of the now-defunct IHL) in 1996-97, before officially retiring. He immediately began his second act as a broadcaster and called Hawks games on WGN Radio for over two decades. While doing so, he was the president of the Blackhawks’ alumni association.
Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz’s statement was as follows:
The Chicago Blackhawks are deeply heartbroken today as we mourn the loss of Troy Murray, our beloved “Muzz,” and our love and support go out to his family.
Troy was the epitome of a Blackhawk, so far beyond his incredible playing career with a presence felt in every corner of our organization over the last 45 years. He was admired by his teammates and our players, and was so proud to connect generations of Blackhawks through his work with the Blackhawks Alumni Association. He jumped at every call to support our local community with our Foundation. He never missed a chance to say ‘hello’ in our press box and always knew the perfect time for a joke just when someone around the office needed it most. And he absolutely loved bringing Blackhawks hockey to you, our fans, night after night with a dedication to his craft that never wavered to the very end.
During his long and hard battle with cancer, it was often said that Troy didn’t have any ‘give up’ in him. While our front office simply won’t be the same without him, we will carry that spirit forward every day in his honor. We’ll miss you, Muzz.
Murray had 230 goals, 354 assists, and 584 points with a +53 rating in 915 career NHL games, including 488 points in 688 games as a Hawk. He’s 23rd in franchise history in appearances by a skater, 18th in assists, and 19th in points. PHR joins others around the game in sending condolences to his family, friends, loved ones, coworkers, and former teammates.