Mysteriously missing Corey Crawford remained “unfit to participate” at the second day of Blackhawks training camp Tuesday, but he wasn’t the only NHL regular absent.
Defenseman Calvin de Haan, whose participation Monday was his first appearance in seven months since undergoing shoulder surgery in December, was gone again Tuesday due to a “family emergency.”
“[It’s] unclear when he’ll be back,” coach Jeremy Colliton said, adding he could not provide no update on Crawford.
De Haan is a native of Carp, Ontario, a small town west of Ottawa.
Rookie Nicolas Beaudin skated with the first-team practice group instead and replaced de Haan in his pairing with Slater Koekkoek.
The rest of the Hawks’ defensive pairs (Duncan Keith and Adam Boqvist, Connor Murphy and Olli Maatta, Brent Seabrook and Lucas Carlsson) remained unchanged.
Malcolm Subban and Kevin Lankinen were the goaltenders practicing with the first team Tuesday, while Collin Delia practiced with the taxi squad. But coach Jeremy Colliton said to expect a rotation of the three netminders as they compete to replace Crawford.
Hawks-Blues game set
After traveling to the Edmonton bubble on Sunday, July 26, the Hawks will play an exhibition game against the Blues on Wednesday, July 29, at 5:30 p.m. CT.
It’ll be their lone warm-up contest before beginning the best-of-five series against the Oilers, for which the NHL also announced start times Tuesday.
Game 1 on Saturday, Aug. 1, will be a 2 p.m. matinee, while Games 2 and 3 on Aug. 3 and Aug. 5, respectively, will both start at 9:30 p.m. as the final games of the NHL’s packed daily slates.
Colliton supports Shaw
Andrew Shaw announced Monday that he’ll sit out the 2020 playoffs and aim to return for the 2020-21 season.
“I feel healthy and am close to fully being healed from not just my last concussion but from others I have had over the years,” he wrote in a statement. “[I] have come to the difficult decision that these extra five months until next season would be great for my health and recovery.”
Colliton said Tuesday that he’s been in close contact with Shaw, relaying his own experiences with concussions — Colliton’s successful AHL career with the Islanders was derailed by head injuries.
“I’m familiar with what he’s going through. so I tried to be open with him with my own experiences,” the coach said. “Ultimately, he knows he has our support and we’re here for him so he can take care of himself and his family. In a perfect world, that would involve him returning [next season] and helping us win. But we’ll see.”
