Injury will sideline Blackhawks' Versteeg for opener
Kris Versteeg suffered a lower body injury at practice Tuesday and now he'll miss the Blackhawks opener. Versteeg will be out three weeks.
“It wasn't good when we first saw him,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “Not sure how bad it is.”
If there is any good news out of all this, it's that the veteran forward didn't re-aggravate his rehabbed knee.
“It's never good getting hurt,” Quenneville said. “I really liked his camp, coming off a frustrating year and coming off a knee injury. He prepared himself. Very disappointed right now.
“At the same time this camp showed that he's capable of getting back to being an elite player, top guy. We still see that as his goal this year.”
Cool as can be:
You'd think rookie defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk would be a bundle of nerves heading into his NHL debut on Thursday.
Yeah, think again.
“I'm just going to try to keep with the same thing: just try to stay poised, stay calm with the puck, move it, keep it simple,” van Riemsdyk said.
From what he's seen of the 23-year-old in camp, Joel Quenneville isn't too concerned.
“His patience with the puck, his composure, play recognition, knowing when to be activated on the back end, in the rush off the point, alleviating forechecking pressure — those are pretty good, dynamic instincts for a young kid at this level,” Quenneville said.
“Making the jump from college is a pretty good compliment to his hockey patience.”
Building envy?
For the past year or so, Blackhawks president John McDonough has witnessed the new Bulls practice facility come to life right across the street from the UC.
And now that it's complete, might there soon be a new Blackhawks facility on the horizon?
“We're always looking,” McDonough said. “We're always looking in any aspect whether it's any improvements on the United Center or the practice facility.
“Nothing is imminent at all. It's just we're always looking around to get better.”
He said it:
“I'm impressed.”
— Johnny Oduya on rookie defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk