Andrew Desjardins out 4-6 weeks as Blackhawks roster comes into focus

The Blackhawks roster picture is finally coming into focus.

The Hawks made a series of moves Monday that essentially set their roster for opening night Wednesday and showed which young forwards made the team out of camp.

The first domino was placing Andrew Desjardins on injured reserve after he was hurt blocking a shot in the Hawks' exhibition loss to the Blues on Saturday. Desjardins, a 30-year-old veteran who adds a defensive presence to the bottom lines, will be out four-to-six weeks because of a lower-body injury, coach Joel Quenneville said.

The Hawks also re-assigned promising 19-year-old forward Alexandre Fortin to his junior team in Quebec and placed Brandon Mashinter and Mark McNeill on waivers.

All those moves mean forward prospects Tyler Motte, Nick Schmaltz, Vincent Hinostroza and Ryan Hartman will be on the roster for Wednesday's opener against the Blues along with 20-year-old defensive prospect Gustav Forsling. Counting defenseman Michal Kempny, who came over from the KHL in the offseason, the Hawks are likely to feature six rookies in their starting lineup Wednesday.

"It's different," coach Joel Quenneville said. "But it certainly gives us some different options. I think we're looking to be doing some teaching early. We know that there might be some mistakes, but we like the quickness that we added to our team with these young guys."

Quenneville skated Motte and Hartman on a line with center Marcus Kruger while Schmaltz centered a line with Hinostroza and veteran winger Jordin Tootoo on Tuesday's practice. Quenneville reunited Jonathan Toews with Marian Hossa on the top line and Artemi Panarin with Patrick Kane on the second line.

"The league is getting younger and younger," Schmaltz said. "Young guys are starting to play bigger roles for teams. We just wanted to come in here and show we were capable of playing. We wanted to show our work ethic, show we can compete every night and we can play with these guys. It's definitely a new journey here."

But for those young players who did make the team, there were others that did not. Quenneville said it was a "tough" decision to place Mashinter on waivers.

The Hawks also left off Fortin, who was the surprise of the summer. He went from undrafted player at prospect camp in July to earning a three-year entry-level contract in training camp.

Fortin is only 19, however, and cannot play in the AHL, so the Hawks had to decide to whether to keep him on the NHL roster or send him back to his junior team, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

By re-assigning Fortin, the Hawks cannot bring him back up until his junior season is over, but they prevent the clock from starting on Fortin's contract, so long as they play him in fewer than 10 NHL games upon the conclusion of his junior season.

Quenneville and the Hawks feel confident enough in the group that is here to let Fortin go.

"We have some freshness and newness that can evolve and we look forward to how everybody takes advantage of it," Quenneville said.

The opportunities are certainly there.