DENVER — After several weeks of basically sitting around, Dylan Sikura finally has a use for the Blackhawks.
With Brandon Saad out at least a couple weeks with an ankle injury suffered Thursday, Sikura will fill the void in the lineup, not just moving onto the active roster but actually slotting into Saad’s first-line role alongside Jonathan Toews and Dominik Kubalik moving forward.
“He’s a tough guy to replace, but [Sikura has] been ready, he’s been working hard, and he’s going to get a shot with Tazer and Kuby,” Dylan Strome said Saturday. “He played a lot of games last year and is feeling pretty comfortable, and he makes plays and that’s what we need.”
After his recall Dec. 8, Sikura played fourth-line minutes for two games, then had sat in the press box as a scratch for the past five. Before Thursday’s game in Winnipeg, coach Jeremy Colliton defended Sikura’s strange lack of usage — as one of the Hawks’ more notable forward prospects, albeit one running out of time to prove himself, it seemed he’d be better served starring back in the AHL than sitting around — by claiming it was beneficial for Sikura simply to be around the NHL group.
That argument is moot now, though. Colliton said he’s hoping Sikura can at least fill most of Saad’s shoes.
“[I] want him to be active away from the puck, skating, use his speed to pressure and create turnovers and get pucks back for the team,” Colliton said. “Win as many 50-50s as he can. That’s going to help his linemates.”
Sikura showed promise with Toews during an extended run last season and will now get another opportunity to translate that apparent chemistry into his long-awaited first career NHL goal.
“Last year, we were talking, he had four or five should’ve-been goals and he knows it, and he’s ready to get that first one,” Strome said. “We’ll all be really happy for him when he gets it, and I think it’s coming soon.”
Injury updates scarce
Colliton gave no insightful updates on Saad, Brent Seabrook or Calvin de Haan.
Drake Caggiula and Andrew Shaw, meanwhile, remain on long-term injured reserve.
The Hawks unsurprisingly placed Saad on (regular) injured reserve Saturday. Colliton said the two-week timeline given immediately after the injury occurred Thursday is “still relatively the same” but he’s not “not counting on him” returning exactly then because “it’s just so far away.”
De Haan is believed to be seeking multiple doctors’ opinions on his options for fixing his right shoulder. But a surgery similar to the one he underwent last May with the Hurricanes seems likely, and that one created a four- to six-month recovery timeline.
This and that
- Duncan Keith was not eased back at all from his groin injury, playing more than 23 minutes each of his first two games after activation. Colliton said he “looked better on night two than night one.”
- Entering Saturday, the Hawks have an unfathomable 0-14-0 record when trailing at the second intermission. They’re the only NHL team yet to earn a single point in such situations. They’ve also conceded 46 third-period goals, third-most in the league.
- Buzz around the possibility of a Hawks trade has grown recently, but nothing could come to fruition for at least another week. The NHL’s holiday roster freeze went into effect Thursday and lasts until Saturday, Dec. 28.
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