Blackhawks’ Andreas Athanasiou Out Week-To-Week
Chicago Blackhawks forward Andreas Athanasiou is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury, head coach Luke Richardson told reporters Monday (via Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago). Richardson also said that the Blackhawks expect winger Taylor Hall, who missed Sunday’s game against Florida with a lower-body injury, to return to practice Wednesday.
Athanasiou, 29, skated just 8:44 against the Lightning on November 9 and, along with Hall, missed the game against the Panthers yesterday. The 470-game veteran is off to a disappointing start in 2023-24, notching just four assists through 11 games and already earning a healthy scratch.
Hopes were high coming into the season that, along with Hall, Athanasiou could be a capable wingman or power-play mate for Connor Bedard as he makes his transition to NHL stardom. The 2012 fourth-round pick of the Red Wings has always struggled with consistency, but he did pot 20 goals and 40 points in 81 games for a lowly Blackhawks team last year while averaging 16 minutes per night.
Unfortunately, he’s slid down to a bottom-six role and is failing to get much of anything going offensively, although he has posted improved possession numbers compared to last season with a relative Corsi share of 3.8% at even strength. He signed a two-year, $8.5MM contract extension to remain in the Windy City last summer.
Athansiou’s absence should provide more opportunity for players like Mackenzie Entwistle, who’s now expected to center the third line after averaging 10:51 per game through eight contests. The 24-year-old has notched a goal and an assist while posting a -2 rating in his third full NHL season.
Meanwhile, this is positive news for Hall, who’s dealing with his third separate injury-related absence of the young season. Hall sustained a shoulder injury in just the second game of the season and was expected to miss significant time, but he made a rushed return to the lineup after missing just five days and one game.
He played three more before reaggravating the injury, which this time caused him to miss about two weeks and three games of action. With two years remaining at a $6MM cap hit, Hall has two goals and two assists in eight games as a Blackhawk.
On a smaller note, Richardson also mentioned that forward Colin Blackwell, who’s yet to play this season after undergoing sports hernia surgery last March, is getting closer to a return but “still has one more hurdle to clear.” Blackwell, entering the final season of a two-year deal with a $1.2MM cap hit, had two goals and ten points in 53 games for Chicago last season.
Blackhawks Recall Isaak Phillips, Place Jarred Tinordi On IR
In advance of their game tomorrow in Florida, the Blackhawks have made a pair of roster moves. Per the AHL’s Transactions Log, Chicago has recalled defenseman Isaak Phillips from AHL Rockford. To make room for him on the roster, Jarred Tinordi has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to November 9th.
Phillips has split the season between the Blackhawks and IceHogs, having spent a week with the big club in late October before being sent down last week. He has one appearance with Chicago this year but has logged regular minutes with Rockford, picking up three points in eight games so far. The 22-year-old is in his fourth professional season and is in the final year of his entry-level contract.
As for Tinordi, he left Thursday’s game in the first period with an oblique injury and did not return. The team didn’t provide any further updates but clearly, he’ll miss at least a week with the IR placement. The 31-year-old has played in nine games so far this season, picking up an assist along with 19 blocks and 23 hits while averaging 14:46 per night.
Blackhawks Andreas Athanasiou And Jarred Tinordi Suffer Injuries
The New York Islanders have announced that defenseman Adam Pelech will be out day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 29-year-old was on the ice for the team’s optional morning skate but was a late scratch for this evening’s game against the Boston Bruins. He has been in and out of the lineup this week having previously missed the Islanders 4-3 OT loss against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. Pelech did return to the lineup on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild but took a maintenance day yesterday before the morning skate today.
Pelech has just a single assist in ten games thus far this season but has averaged over 20 minutes of ice time per game when available. The Islanders seventh defenseman Samuel Bolduc has filled in for Pelech during his absences including tonight as he is slotted beside Scott Mayfield. While Bolduc has played hard, he has struggled to fill the void left by Pelech and has no points in eight games.
In other injury notes:
- The Arizona Coyotes have announced that defenseman Travis Dermott will be out of the lineup week-to-week with an apparent upper-body injury. The Coyotes called up Michael Kesselring yesterday to work in Dermott’s absence, although it is likely that recent healthy scratch Josh Brown will slot into Dermott’s place and Kesselring will serve as the team’s seventh defenseman. Very little is known about Dermott’s ailment or when he suffered the injury but for now it appears at least for the time being that Dermott’s absence will be an extended one. Dermott has a single assist in ten games so far this season and is currently a -4.
- The Chicago Blackhawks have announced that defenseman Jarred Tinordi left tonight’s game and will not be returning. The 31-year-old left without any obvious reason or clear injury and no specifics have been given yet. Tinordi drew back into the lineup tonight for the first time since last Saturday and was tasked with replacing Nikita Zaitsev. Tinordi has dressed in eight games on the season and has a single assist while playing roughly 16 minutes a night.
- The Blackhawks also announced that forward Andreas Athanasiou will not be returning to tonight’s game after suffering an apparent injury. Athanasiou left the game near the end of the second period although little is known as to the reason why. The 29-year-old was a healthy scratch recently and has struggled so far this season with no goals and four assists in ten games. Last year he posted 20 goals and 20 assists in 81 games and seemed to have more jump in his game.
Blackhawks Activate Taylor Hall Off Injured Reserve
It has been an eventful first month in Chicago for winger Taylor Hall as shoulder issues have limited him to just five games so far. Now, it appears as if he is cleared to return as Scott Powers of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that Hall will play tonight, meaning he has been activated off injured reserve.
Hall was injured in the second game of the season and was believed to be out longer term originally. He then decided that he could play through the pain and returned after missing just one game. However, his effectiveness was limited and after three games of playing through the injury, Hall was shut down to allow him ample time to recover.
Hall was brought in to be a capable veteran linemate for top rookie Connor Bedard and he’ll likely be with the most recent top pick quite soon if not right away. He has two assists in the five games he has played so far but if he is indeed fully recovered, he should be able to be more productive.
It’s worth noting that Chicago had a full 23-man roster so a roster move needed to be made to formally activate Hall off IR. Isaak Phillips is the casualty on that front as the defender was just brought up on Sunday and is waiver-exempt; the Blackhawks have returned him to AHL Rockford.
Blackhawks To Keep Kevin Korchinski On Roster
The Blackhawks will keep defenseman Kevin Korchinski on the active roster after his nine-game trial wrapped up Monday night against the Coyotes, head coach Luke Richardson told Mark Lazerus of The Athletic yesterday. The 19-year-old will not be returned to the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, thereby putting his three-year, entry-level contract into effect starting this season.
Selected seventh overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, Korchinski has quietly seen top-four minutes thus far to start the campaign. While all the media attention is rightfully on 2023 first-overall choice Connor Bedard, Korchinski has done quite well through his first nine NHL contests. His -8 rating may make it seem like he’s struggled defensively, but that’s more a product of the team around him. In fact, his 49.4% Corsi share at even strength is much better than the team’s quite poor 44.8% average, doing so while consistently taking over 20 shifts per game and routinely crossing the 20-minute mark in terms of ice time.
Korchinski is still looking for his first NHL goal but has managed to put three assists on the board, his only primary helper coming in last night’s 8-1 loss to the Coyotes – a goal scored by Bedard and assisted secondarily by Seth Jones, a combination Blackhawks fans will certainly see a lot of in the coming seasons.
While negligible for a team in Chicago’s situation, the entry-level slide from last season confirms that Korchinski’s cap hit will be $918.3K through the 2025-26 season rather than the $950K listed when he initially signed the deal. That’s because while an entry-level deal slides, signing bonuses are paid out even in years when the contract is not in effect – lowering the cap hit on the deal when it does go into effect because less money than anticipated is being paid out in the third year of the deal.
Last season with WHL Seattle, Korchinski finished third among defensemen in the league with 1.35 points per game behind Ducks prospect Olen Zellweger (1.45) and Blue Jackets prospect Stanislav Svozil (1.39), the latter of whom was teammates with Bedard.
Chicago Recalls Phillips, Expects Vlasic To Miss Time
- The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled defenseman Isaak Phillips to the NHL. This move likely signals that Alex Vlasic, who was injured in the Hawks recent game against Vegas, is likely set to miss at least one game. Phillips has appeared in five AHL games this season, scoring one goal and three points. He has 20 NHL games under his belt, with five career points. Vlasic has been a major bright spot through the early going, making his absence a stinger for the Hawks.
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Andreas Athanasiou A Healthy Scratch
One of the most notable missing pieces in the team’s win tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights was Chicago Blackhawks’ forward, Andreas Athanasiou, who was a healthy scratch. Signed to a two-year, $8.5 MM extension after last year’s season, Athanasiou has not gotten off to a strong start this year with Chicago (Tweet Link).
There is no doubt that the relatively high salary the Blackhawks gave him over the summer had to do with the team reaching the salary cap floor for the season, but the team should still be seeking more production out of his play. In any case, even on a rebuilding team in Chicago, Athanasiou will need to raise his level of play to earn a full-time spot in the Blackhawks lineup.
Taylor Hall Suffers Setback, Out Week-To-Week
10/24/23: According to Roumeliotis, the Blackhawks have officially placed Hall on injured reserve due to his shoulder injury. The placement is retroactive to October 21st.
10/23/23: After attempting to return from a shoulder injury suffered earlier in the month, Blackhawks winger Taylor Hall will now be on the shelf longer term. Head coach Luke Richardson told reporters today, including NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis, that Hall will be out for “a bit” after aggravating the injury and is listed as week-to-week.
Hall sustained the injury in an October 11 game against the Bruins after he was checked hard by Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo. Initially listed as week-to-week after exiting the lineup, Hall missed just one game before returning to the lineup a week ago Monday against the Maple Leafs. After seeing his ice time dip in the following two contests and playing just 12:39 against the Golden Knights on Saturday, it was determined Hall would need a longer recovery period.
The Blackhawks acquired the final two seasons of Hall’s four-year, $24MM contract from the Bruins this summer in a trade that gave the Bruins some much-needed salary cap relief. It also gave Chicago a skilled, veteran player drafted first overall many moons ago, making him an ideal linemate and mentor for 2023 first-overall selection Connor Bedard. While Bedard has been as good as can be expected so far this year, Hall has logged just two assists in five games while fighting the injury. The entire team has struggled to control possession, and Hall is no different, posting a Corsi share of 41.2% at even strength.
With Hall out of the lineup, Bedard is projected to get some new linemates. He’ll be flanked by seasoned veterans on both sides in Tyler Johnson and Nick Foligno, both of whom have three points in six contests this year. Johnson leads the team in goals with three in the early going.
Kurashev Hoping To Make Debut On Tuesday
- After taking the entire summer to rehab a shoulder injury sustained towards the end of last season, Chicago Blackhawks’ forward, Philipp Kurashev, suffered a wrist injury during training camp before the start of this season, keeping him out of the lineup up to this point. With a serious need for more secondary scoring in their lineup, Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports-Chicago is reporting that Kurashev is looking to make his debut for the team on Tuesday, as they take on the Boston Bruins for the second time this season.
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Chicago Blackhawks Assign Cole Guttman To AHL
According to Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago, the Chicago Blackhawks have assigned forward Cole Guttman to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.
Guttman, 24, was a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks’ past two games and has seemingly played his way back to the AHL in the early part of this season.
The five-foot-nine pivot has skated in three NHL games this year for head coach Luke Richardson, tallying one goal.
The Blackhawks signed Guttman as a college free agent after his productive final collegiate season, and he had an impressive debut season as a pro last year. But despite the early success he had as a professional, especially in the AHL, he’s been passed this season on the Blackhawks’ center depth chart.
Guttman began the year as Richardson’s third-line center, skating between Boris Katchouk and Andreas Athanasiou.
He’s since lost that job to Mackenzie Entwistle, who offers far more size at the position, but scored just four more points than Guttman last season despite playing in 52 additional NHL games.
With Lukas Reichel entrenched as the team’s second-line center (despite his early-season struggles) and Connor Bedard untouchable on the Blackhawks’ top line, there simply isn’t much room for Guttman in the lineup outside of that third-line center role.
It’s seemingly been made clear with the consecutive games spent as a healthy scratch that the Blackhawks want to see more from Guttman in order for him to retain a regular spot in their lineup. With this reassignment, the next step for him will be to play some impactful games for the IceHogs so he can earn a recall to Chicago and re-enter their lineup on stronger footing.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images