Boqvist suddenly a candidate for Blackhawks' roster
Adam Boqvist isn't a man - make that YOUNG man - of many words.
That's OK. Because, wow, is he letting his play do some serious talking.
The Blackhawks' fresh-faced, 18-year-old defenseman, has opened enough eyes during the first week of training camp that suddenly there's talk he could be on the opening night roster.
"I'm not throwing that out of the realm of possibilities," coach Joel Quenneville told reporters after Boqvist more than impressed during Thursday's preseason game at Detroit.
This was not the plan when the Hawks took Boqvist eighth overall last June. Not even close.
Conventional thinking was Boqvist, who hails from Falun, Sweden, was two to three years away from becoming an NHL player.
It was assumed he would return to the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights, possibly as soon as Friday when they opened their season, but Quenneville said he will keep the youngster through at least part of next week. Boqvist could play up to nine NHL games before burning the first year of his three-year, entry-level deal.
"It's unreal to be here with these guys," the 5-foot-11, 168-pounder said after practice Friday. "I think I can play in this level, but I need to be bigger and stronger. That's the thing I need to work on this season."
Injuries to Connor Murphy (back) and Gustav Forsling (wrist) certainly created a couple of openings on the back end, but they figured to be temporarily filled by Carl Dahlstrom, Blake Hillman, Dennis Gilbert or Brandon Davidson.
Yet it's Boqvist and fellow phenom Henri Jokiharju who are making the Hawks' brass think twice about how they want to open the season.
"When (players like them) come to camp, we want to watch these guys and they make those decisions for us by how they play," Quenneville said. "It's been a positive one."
Crawford update
Corey Crawford returned to the ice Friday after taking a day off, going through drills with coach Jimmy Waite. In addition to stopping close-in shots, Crawford worked on stopping wraparound shots and retrieving pucks behind the net during the 30-minute session.
Roster moves
Defensemen Lucas Carlsson, Darren Raddysh, Blake Hillman, forwards Jacob Nilsson, Nathan Noel and Henrik Samuelsson and goalie Kevin Lankinen were assigned to the Rockford IceHogs. D-man Nicolas Beaudin, drafted 27th overall in June, and forward MacKenzie Entwistle, acquired as part of the Marian Hossa deal with Arizona, were assigned to their junior teams. Entwistle scored a second-period goal Thursday in the Blackhawks' 4-2 loss at Detroit.