Hawks' Versteeg can't wait to get back on ice

Kris Versteeg admitted it.

For the first few days after injuring himself just before the start of the regular season, he was bummed.

Actually, beyond bummed.

"Yeah, when you have so many expectations of yourself - especially coming off a great summer and getting further beyond what even I expected it would be - it was a little bit devastating, and I was pretty rattled," Versteeg said following Saturday's morning skate. "But now you take those two days just to pout and regroup and then get back to work and get excited about it."

And what Versteeg is most excited about now is that he appears to be ahead of schedule (3 weeks) for a return from his lower body injury.

"At the time, I didn't know how long it would take, but it's been healing well," he said. "Now, it's sort of just down to a day-by-day thing."

Coach Joel Quenneville is just looking forward to having the versatile veteran back in the lineup.

"He can play in the course of a game when things are going good or not so good, you can insert him with top guys, he can kill penalties for you, he can play on the power play," Quenneville said. "That versatility is something you can really use in different situations as the game evolves."

With Versteeg's impending return, it looks like Jeremy Morin will be battling it out with Daniel Carcillo for ice time down the road.

"We'll see," Quenneville said. "I know a lot of times decisions are made for you. So it'll sort itself out."

New D-pairing:

Rookie Trevor van Riemsdyk was paired with veteran Michal Rozsival to start Saturday's game against Nashville.

"I think he's had some real solid games for us and today we're going to put him on the left side, or try him on the left side," Quenneville said of van Riemsdyk. "He's played most of his college on the left side, Not too many right shots can play left or both. That's a nice asset to have, and we'll see how he handles it."

Wacky schedule:

If this were the middle of the regular season, the Blackhawks would be loving the spartan number of games they have in October (10). But since it's not, the players are getting a little antsy to get out and play.

"We'd rather have a schedule like this in December, January," Jonathan Toews said. "That's when playing a lot of games doesn't necessarily catch up to you, but it's nice to have a few days here and there between games.

"We have to take advantage of these games now. When we play a team that played the night before, we have to be really ready."

He said it:

"He does a lot of crazy things, whether it's crazy timeouts, speeches. He's really into getting his team motivated. There's a lot of different quirky things he does and it makes him a really good head coach and I really enjoyed my time when I was with him."

- Kris Versteeg on new Predators coach Peter Laviolette