Hawks next play Saturday after another game canceled

Another day, another cancellation for the Blackhawks.

Less than 24 hours after the NHL called off Tuesday's Hawks-Blue Jackets game at the United Center, the league postponed Wednesday's Hawks at Winnipeg game.

Five Hawks games have been called off due to COVID issues.

So, a season that was moving along quite nicely has grinded to a halt.

This prompted a reporter to ask Hawks defenseman Connor Murphy which scenario is more frustrating: This one or what players went through last year in a 56-game pandemic-shortened campaign.

It was an easy choice for Murphy - this one.

"As much as it was hard to deal with some of the different protocols and no fans and the bubbles, we knew that was the way it was going to be for that season," Murphy said after the Hawks practiced Monday at Fifth Third Arena. "This year, when you have so much more hope and ... it's pretty normal, it is frustrating to go back."

Now, the next three games on the Hawks' schedule are Saturday at Nashville, at home Sunday against Calgary and at home Jan. 4 against Colorado.

If some of them are played, it's likely coach Derek King will be without Marc-Andre Fleury, who entered COVID protocol Monday. Kevin Lankinen is now the No. 1 starter, while Collin Delia (who was called up from Rockford) will serve as the backup.

"Obviously losing a guy like Fleury, it's not easy," said King, whose Hawks are 11-15-4 overall. "But there's an opportunity here for Lanks to get more games in and step up. Not sure schedule-wise if it works out, but maybe Deals gets a game in and there's an opportunity for him also."

With Calvin de Haan removed from COVID protocol Tuesday, Fleury is the Hawks' only player who is in.

The next step for general manager Kyle Davidson and the Hawks will be to put together a taxi squad of up to six players. This is something the NHL allowed teams to establish last season to deal with COVID, and it was reintroduced Sunday. They will be in effect until at least the all-star break in early February.

The Hawks put only forward Brett Connolly on the taxi squad Tuesday.

"It's going to be a tough decision here," King said. "We don't want to leave (Rockford) short. ... I'm going to have to sit with Kyle and figure (that) out because (there's) no point a player's here, coming up from Rockford and just practicing and missing on opportunity to play hockey games."

The IceHogs are dealing with their own COVID issues as forwards Garrett Mitchell, Mike Hardman, Dmitri Osipov, Carson Gicewiz and D.J. Busdeker, and defensemen Nicolas Beaudin and Ian Mitchell are all in protocol. They are joined by interim head coach Anders Sorensen and assistant coach Jared Nightingale.

The NHL Monday called off two other games: Dallas at Colorado (scheduled for Wednesday) and Colorado at Dallas (scheduled for Friday).