Vermette won't play against Blackhawks on Thursday
Antoine Vermette, who helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2015, won't play for Anaheim on Thursday as he serves his 10-game suspension for slashing linesman Shandor Alphonso in a game on Feb. 14.
Repeated requests to talk with Vermette were unsuccessful, but he did speak with The Orange County Register this week and said: "Of course you can't do that. And I accept this responsibility. I shouldn't do that. My intention probably looks a lot more awkward on the video, to get his attention even though it's a bad idea to address it at that stage. Totally out of character."
In the video, after losing a faceoff with Minnesota's Mikko Koivu, Vermette stands still for a second or two and then slashes Alphonso across the leg. He was given a game misconduct, and then the NHL handed down its suspension. He is eligible to return Sunday.
Vermette told the Register that he called Alphonso to apologize.
"The first opportunity I had to call him, I reached out to him to apologize and talk," said Vermette, who has been whistled for one other major penalty in 1,046 NHL games. "And actually I talked to him for a long time in New York. He's a nice guy."
Ready to go:
Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya will both play in Thursday's game against Anaheim at the United Center. They will form the Hawks' second defensive pairing, behind Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.
Hjalmarsson missed four games with an upper-body body injury. With Oduya, the Hawks wanted to make sure he was 100 percent recovered from an ankle injury that cost him about six weeks.
Slap shots:
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters at the league's GM meetings that the salary cap could increase from $73 million to between $75.5 million and $76 million next season. … Based on line combinations at practice, watch for Jordin Tootoo to play in his third straight game Thursday. Tootoo skated on the fourth line with Marcus Kruger and Tomas Jurco. Dennis Rasmussen and Andrew Desjardins appear to be the odd men out.