CALGARY, Alberta — The constant shuffling at the bottom of the Blackhawks’ defensive depth chart has no end in sight.
Beneath the established top four of Seth Jones, Connor Murphy, Jake McCabe and Calvin de Haan, the team has experienced constant rotation. The latest setback came this week, when the Hawks placed Riley Stillman on injured reserve Monday with a left knee injury he suffered Sunday against the Canucks.
Caleb Jones, who’s slowly scraping off the rust after returning from his wrist injury, rejoined the lineup in Stillman’s place Tuesday versus the Flames. Wyatt Kalynuk was recalled from the AHL, where he recorded three points in four games after returning from his ankle injury, but was the healthy extra Tuesday.
Stillman’s return timeline will be clearer, interim coach Derek King said, once he’s evaluated in more detail by doctors upon returning Wednesday to Chicago — the end of the eight-night road trip. But he will miss at least a couple games.
Erik Gustafsson, meanwhile, surprisingly continues to hold his spot on the third pair.
The all-offense, no-defense defenseman seemed on the road to waivers when he averaged just 7:14 ice time in King’s first two games in charge. But he most recently played 17:36 against the Oilers and 19:02 against the Canucks — reflections of King’s newfound trust in him.
“When I first came, he didn’t play much — he was earning that ice back,” King said Tuesday. “He’s put himself in a position where it’s hard to not play him. It’s hard to take him out of the lineup. He’s perfect for us on that second [power play] unit.”
Hagel will deal with ‘dead arm’
Hawks forward Brandon Hagel will likely deal with occasional incidents of “dead arm” the rest of the season after recovering from an injury to the AC joint in his left shoulder.
“You’ve just got to get off and let it go away,” King said. “I still get dead arms all the time. It’s just something that’ll occur now and then until summertime, when he has time to heal better.”
The first such incident occurred when Duncan Keith hit him in the Oilers game Saturday. Hagel’s departure with his arm hanging limp looked alarming, but he returned the next period.
“Duncan got me in the perfect spot,” Hagel joked. “I shouldn’t have talked to him before the game, I guess.”
