Blackhawks lose both Murphy, Shaw to injuries
The Blackhawks were hit with a double dose of bad news Thursday, but coach Jeremy Colliton vowed his team would press on with the same resilient attitude that's carried them through the first month of the season.
Eight hours before playing Columbus at the United Center, the Hawks announced that Connor Murphy will miss 10-14 days with a hip injury and that Andrew Shaw was placed into concussion protocol.
Shaw took an elbow to the head from defenseman Joel Hanley with 8:17 remaining in the second period of the Hawks' 2-1 overtime win at Dallas on Tuesday. Shaw was on the ice for six more shifts, totaling 5 minutes, 16 seconds.
"It's hard to swallow," Colliton said. "Not much (else) to say about it. We've got to professionally do our job and come in here and play hard. We've a good thing going, but we've got to earn it every day. Part of that of that is finding a way to do it when you don't have your full group. ...
"Feel for Shawzy and get it done anyway."
Matthew Highmore took Shaw's place in the lineup against the Blue Jackets. The Hawks also went with the same seven defensemen for the second straight game.
Shaw, who also placed on injured reserve, considered retirement after suffering a concussion in December 2019 but elected to return this season after a lengthy rehab.
"Coming back from injury, rehab, getting back into shape was tough," Shaw said Tuesday. "It was a long year but all worth it. Great to be back with the guys, competing and being in the room is fun.
"Being on the road with the guys is one of the best parts of hockey. I'm sure I've annoyed people already, but whatever."
He may have annoyed a few teammates, but Shaw returned with a newfound energy and enthusiasm that truly resonated with his younger teammates.
"Just the other day he left a little autograph in my stall for me and said I should hang onto this for a long time because it'll be worth something," Ian Mitchell said between games in Dallas. "He makes it really fun to be around the rink. He's been great to me ... and just making me feel welcome."
Now he's gone again. As is Murphy, who has lost 42 games to injury the past two seasons.
These won't be easy holes to fill, but the Hawks shown a remarkable ability to soldier on in the face of some awfully trying developments.
"I'm not taken aback at all," Colliton said when asked for his reaction to losing Murphy and Shaw for an extended period. "It's part of the season - you're going to lose guys. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it. But it doesn't matter.
"Keep going. Kepp paying. Come in here, we're all business."
COVID update:
Defenseman Adam Boqvist and forward Lucas Wallmark (who came out of COVID protocol Wednesday) will need some time to get back up to speed before they can return to game action. Jeremy Colliton said neither could train much and they are working on their conditioning.
Ryan Carpenter is the only Hawks player who remains in the protocol.
Slap shot:
The Hawks reassigned defenseman Wyatt Kalnuk to the taxi squad and assigned D-man Anton Lindholm to Rockford.