Blackhawks' Quenneville shuffling lines in training camp
WHIRRRRRR!
That sound you heard coming out of MB Ice Arena the last two days was that of Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville breaking out his patented line blender.
The changes were quite significant as:
• Chris Kunitz was replaced by Dominik Kahun on Jonathan Toews' line.
• Artem Anisimov is now centering Nick Schmaltz and Patrick Kane.
• Kunitz and Brandon Saad both moved down to a third line, which has been centered by David Kampf.
• And Luke Johnson - one of the true standouts of camp - is on a line with center Marcus Kruger and RW Andreas Martinsen. Quenneville likes the option of being able to play either Kruger or Johnson at center on this line.
• Dylan Sikura, Matthew Highmore, John Hayden, Victor Ejdsell and Alexandre Fortin all skated outside the top 12.
"Kamper's been really good and Johnson's been great, too," Quenneville said. "So they've helped give us some options in the middle."
Quenneville said he put Anisimov on Kane's line because of his net-front presence and his defensive awareness. Schmaltz also thrived on the wing at times last season and still must improve on faceoffs (40.1 percent).
Of course, whether these lines - or some other combination - are used for the season opener at Ottawa on Oct. 4 is still up in the air.
"We'll go from here," Quenneville said. "But we still have a lot to keep an eye on."
Injury updates:
Coach Joel Quenneville said the Hawks are hoping Corey Crawford (concussion) can join his teammates for practice either Saturday or early next week. Crawford, who worked out on the ice for 30 minutes for a second straight day with Jimmy Waite, is unlikely to be ready for the season opener.
"He's going to be more than ready before he gets injected in a practice," Quenneville said, "and it'll probably be the same mindset to play a game."
Defenseman Gustav Forsling, who had wrist surgery on July 31 and is expected to be out until about mid-November, skated and worked on some stick-handling drills Monday. His timetable for return did not change, however.
Slap shots:
The Hawks closed Monday's practice by playing 3-on-3 for about 12 minutes. Among the highlights were Cam Ward gloving a Patrick Kane one-timer; Erik Gustafsson weaving through traffic to score past Colin Delia; and Dylan Sikura beating Ward through the five-hole. Brent Seabrook closed it out by scoring on a breakaway past Ward. … The defensive pairings Monday were: Duncan Keith-Brent Seabrook; Jan Rutta-Erik Gustafsson; Brandon Manning-Adam Boqvist; Henri Jokiharju-Brandon Davidson. … Goalie Cam Ward is slated to play all of Tuesday's preseason game against Detroit at the United Center.