Don't make too much of Hossa skating on Blackhawks third line
It's not every day a forward who is a 499-goal scorer, a future Hall of Famer and a three-time Stanley Cup champion comes into camp and finds himself skating on the team's third line.
But that's where Marian Hossa found himself on his first day back at Blackhawks camp Friday after playing nine games for Team Europe in the World Cup.
Just like at the Blackhawks Convention in July, the 38-year-old Hossa - who skated with Marcus Kruger and Ryan Hartman - said all the right things to the media after practice wrapped up at Johnny's IceHouse West.
"I talked to Q (coach Joel Quenneville) and he wants to balance the lines and I'm totally fine with that," Hossa said. "Wherever I can help the team."
For the second straight day, the top six forwards remained the same: Jonathan Toews centered the top line with Artemi Panarin and Richard Panik on the wings, while Artem Anisimov centered the second line with Tyler Motte and Patrick Kane on the wings.
The fourth line was Vinnie Hinostroza-Nick Schmaltz-Jordin Tootoo.
As Hawks fans know, it's dangerous to assume much when it comes to Quenneville and his line combinations. Remember, a year ago at this time it looked like Teuvo Teravainen had won the "lottery spot" on the left side with Hossa and Toews, but that experiment lasted all of one game.
"There's still a lot to be determined on these guys," Quenneville said of his young players, all of whom will get one final chance to prove themselves in preseason action when the Hawks play at St. Louis on Saturday. "I know we had lines here the last couple of days that might look like how things are going to play out, but I wouldn't read into that."
Moving Hossa down makes sense in that it might take some pressure off the aging veteran and allow him to stay away from the opponents' top defensemen.
Remember that last year was a rough one for Hossa - offensively anyway - as he scored just 13 goals and converted on a mere 6.8 percent of his shots. Quenneville stuck with Hossa on the top line the whole season, but finally moved him down to play with Kruger and Andrew Ladd in Games 5-7 against St. Louis.
"Obviously (we) found some chemistry there," Hossa said of playing with Kruger and Ladd. "All of a sudden our job was to check their top line and we enjoyed it."
Quenneville said he spoke with not only Hossa, but with all of his top players about these potential lines.
"They all feel it's what's best for the team," Quenneville said. "You look at Arty, he centered a rookie of the year and an MVP. So you're wondering why we do something like that.
"We know we've got that (Panarin-Anisimov-Kane combo) in our back pocket and it's (easy to) get back to it in an instant.
"So we're just trying to get some different looks and see if we can catch a little bit more balance throughout our lineup."
• The Blackhawks announced Friday that they recalled defensemen Viktor Svedberg and Ville Pokka from Rockford.
• Follow John Dietz on Twitter @johndietzdh