PRAGUE — After a long offseason and training camp of transactions, roster battles and speculating about future transactions and roster battles, the Blackhawks’ roster has been finalized for the start of the regular season.
It will inevitably change steadily over the course of the next six months, and players who have won NHL jobs for now could easily find themselves in the AHL (or on injured reserve) at any time. By the league’s definition, final and permanent are far from synonyms.
But it is, for now, final.
Brendan Perlini and Slater Koekkoek squeezed into the 13th forward and seventh defenseman jobs, respectively, after the Hawks assigned forward Anton Wedin, defenseman Dennis Gilbert and goaltender Collin Delia to the AHL on Monday and Tuesday.
They also placed Carl Dahlstrom on waivers Monday and saw the former second-round pick claimed by the Jets on Tuesday.
Kirby Dach currently remains in the NHL, although he did not appear during the preseason while recovering from a concussion and has been given a non-roster designation at the moment. The Hawks can wait up to nine regular season games before deciding whether to keep him or send him back to Canadian juniors this season — if they choose the latter option, Dach’s three years at capped entry-level-contract salary will not begin until next summer.
Defenseman Connor Murphy and forward John Quenneville, who was placed on waivers last week but never assigned to Rockford, were placed on injured reserve Tuesday.
The Hawks will debut this group on Friday here in the Czech Republic for the 2019-20 regular season opener against the Flyers.
Plenty of questions remain unanswered, though.
Will defensemen Calvin de Haan be healthy by Friday? Will Corey Crawford or Robin Lehner start in goal? How long will Dach’s stay be? Who will be the healthy scratch?
Some of those answers may be obtained Wednesday, when the Hawks conduct their first of two game-week practices in Prague.
The various bubble players sent to Rockford will almost certainly receive NHL opportunities as the season goes on, as well.
Expect Wedin, Gilbert and Delia, in addition to Adam Boqvist, Aleksi Saarela, Philip Holm and likely others too, to earn call-ups over the coming months.
