Blackhawks' Rasmussen trying to make best of reduced playing time
It's been an awfully strange two seasons for Dennis Rasmussen.
Last year, the Blackhawks forward played in 41 straight games after being called up from Rockford but then sat in 11 of the last 14 and never saw the ice in the postseason.
The 2016-17 campaign as been eerily similar as Rasmussen played in 57 of the first 62 games, but has only been in the lineup four times in the last 12 contests. He did play against Vancouver on Tuesday and the easygoing Swede told reporters beforehand that he was really excited.
The fact that the same end-of-season scenario is playing out again isn't that surprising for a player who has had to fight, scratch and claw just to stay on the Hawks' roster. Last year, Andrew Ladd, Tomas Fleischman and Dale Weise pushed Rasmussen out of the lineup; this year, it's Tomas Jurco and John Hayden.
"Maybe I didn't play at my best (recently). I don't know," said Rasmussen, who has 4 goals and 5 assists. "I try to do the small things right, but obviously we've got some new players on the team and there's a lot of competition. I'm just trying to be as good as possible every day and try to focus on things I can do going forward instead of things I did before."
The Hawks would often opt to send a bubble player like Rasmussen to Rockford, but he would have to clear waivers and the team isn't going to take that chance. Rasmussen understands his plight and says he's happy for the added depth and talent because "we want to go far in the playoffs."
He also doesn't feel left out thanks to a captain in Jonathan Toews who takes an interest in every player on the roster.
"Tazer's coming up to me every day and making sure I'm doing well," Rasmussen said. "And he just told me the other day the team is still thinking about you. Don't feel alone.
"So I feel like our top players and our leaders are really making sure everyone is on board. That's a special thing on this team."
Back in:
Marian Hossa and Johnny Oduya returned to the Blackhawks' lineup Tuesday against Vancouver. Hossa missed two games with a lower-body injury. Oduya was rested Sunday against Colorado because it was the Hawks' fourth game in six days, and he is only three weeks removed from a significant ankle injury.
Slap shots:
Forward Roy Radke signed an amateur tryout agreement with the Rockford IceHogs on Tuesday. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Radke was a sixth-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2015 and had 23 goals in 45 games with the OHL's Barrie Colts. … The Hawks on Sunday clinched a playoff berth in their 72nd contest, the fewest number of games it's taken under coach Joel Quenneville in an 82-game season. …
The fastest 3-goal bursts in Hawks history are 21 seconds (March 23, 1952 at NYR), 30 seconds (Oct. 15, 1983 at Toronto) and 34 seconds (March 19, 2017 vs. Colorado). … Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Denis Savard are the only players in franchise history who have scored 20 or more goals in each of their first 10 seasons.