Blackhawks rookie Leddy won't be gone long

Defenseman Nick Leddy was assigned to Rockford on Monday, but the impressive rookie won't be gone long.

With a five-day break in the schedule and Leddy possessing a salary cap hit of $1.11 million, his demotion was purely a cap-related move for the Blackhawks to save money this week.

In five games since his recall from the minors after appearing in the World Junior Championships, Leddy has earned regular praise from coach Joel Quenneville for his poise and patience with the puck.

“I think patience with the puck is an art and it's a great skill to have,” Quenneville said. “I think everybody has a different threshold of patience with the puck, but he has that ability to wait people off and see plays. That poise and patience with the puck, he should only be improving off those levels.”

Still work to do:

After going three games without allowing a power-play goal, the Hawks gave up 2 in the first period of Sunday's 6-3 win over Nashville.

“We're not out of the woods yet as far as having success in penalty-killing,” Jonathan Toews said. “Every day you've got to work on it and focus on it.

“We've had some success on it and you have to use that confidence to keep building, but you can't just say, well, everything is OK now, we don't have to worry about it. It's something we definitely need to keep working on.”

Coming through:

Marty Turco might not get another start until after the all-star break, but he showed in Sunday's win over Nashville that he can be ready to play whenever called upon.

Turco, making his first start since Dec. 30, gave up 2 power-play goals in the first period but was solid the rest of the way in the win over Nashville.

“He got better,” Joel Quenneville said. “It's tough when you get a power play a few seconds into the game and they're loading it up pretty well. He kept his composure and battled through it.”

Tip-ins:

With his 100th career goal Sunday, Jonathan Toews became the fourth-youngest Hawk to reach that milestone after Patrick Kane, Bobby Hull and Denis Savard. ... The NHL could announce the captains for the All-Star Game as soon as today.