Brent Seabrook remains far away from returning from his back injury, leaving the Blackhawks “very concerned” about Seabrook’s accumulating injuries and physical longevity.
This back issue follows three hip and shoulder surgeries last winter, meaning three major regions of Seabrook’s body have now suffered significant trauma since the 35-year-old defenseman last played an NHL game in November 2019.
Hawks general manager Stan Bowman detailed Seabrook’s situation in an interview Sunday, providing long-awaited clarity. Asked if he was concerned, this was his response:
“We’re very concerned for him,” Bowman said. “He’s been a warrior for us. Think of his time in Chicago, he never really missed any games, but now we’re realizing he was playing through a lot of pain those years, and it’s caught up to him.
“He was dealing with his shoulders and his hips, to the point where he probably should’ve had it done years ago, but that’s how he’s always been driven: to keep moving forward, don’t worry about injuries, play through it. So yeah, we are concerned for him. We certainly hope that he can get past it.”
Seabrook, having by July largely recovered from his surgeries, participated in the Hawks’ pre-playoffs training camp this past summer. Despite deciding not to participate in the 2020 playoffs, he planned to be 100% ready for the 2021 season.
And he was, in fact, on track to do so until he tweaked his back.
“It happened like a day or two before [camp],” Bowman said. “We had some groups of guys skating leading into camp, getting ready before the season began, and that’s when it happened. It’s unfortunate because I know he had worked hard in the offseason to be ready.”
The Hawks have been oddly mum about Seabrook over the past month, with coach Jeremy Colliton frequently turning aside questions about his status.
Much of that vagueness stems from internal uncertainty about exactly how long this will affect Seabrook.
After all, the Hawks are experiencing a comparable worst-case scenario right now with Zack Smith, who underwent successful back surgery in March 2020 and expected to be ready for camp in January but turned out not to be. Smith, like Seabrook, now sits on injured reserve.
“[Smith’s situation] was probably a similar thing to Seabrook,” Bowman said. “When you’re out for a long time, you can feel good and you feel like you’re ready to go, and then sometimes things come up which hadn’t bothered you before.”
Thus, the Hawks have also found it difficult to determine a timeline for Seabrook’s recovery.
“If you have a knee or a shoulder injury, like [Alex] Nylander’s injury, we know exactly how long it’s going to take for him to rehab and be ready,” Bowman said. “This is just different. I don’t have an idea on when he’s going to be back with us.”
Seabrook has been lightly skating on his own, but not in such a way that he’s progressing toward rejoining team practices — although that is still “the plan and the goal for him” eventually.
The veteran of 16 seasons and 1,114 games has been around the Hawks “quite a bit” off the ice, though, in order to stay connected with his teammates and the coaching staff.
He was spotted last week watching one practice in dress clothes. Colliton said Monday he remains an influential voice in the locker room.
“He’s still not afraid to speak up, whether it’s just keeping things light or whether it’s a little word here or there,” Colliton said. “Obviously he’s focused on himself and trying to get back to feeling the way he needs to, but…[with] the experience that he has and [being] just a different voice, someone different to talk to the players and give feedback, it’s a big help.”
