TORONTO — Two days shy of a month since his ugly-looking ankle injury Dec. 19 in Winnipeg, the Blackhawks’ Brandon Saad returned to full practice Friday.
He could potentially rejoin the lineup Saturday against the Maple Leafs.
“I’m in good shape and ready to go,” Saad said.
Coach Jeremy Colliton said Friday a decision hadn’t been made yet on Saad playing Saturday, but implied it is highly likely he will play at least one of the three remaining games before the All-Star break.
The 27-year-old forward had never missed more than four games in any of his seven prior NHL seasons, so the 12-game-and-counting absence is an unfamiliar and not particularly pleasant experience.
“It’s tough, sitting and watching from home,” he said. “Mentally, the biggest thing is staying in the season. Because you’re going to rink every day, you’re doing your rehab [and] you’re away from the guys, it almost feels like you’re in summer training or the season’s over. But there’s still lots of hockey to be played.”
The Hawks fared shockingly well without him, winning eight of those 12 games. Saad was the other wing for the first weeks of the Jonathan Toews-Dominik Kubalik first line, too, and that duo has exploded even more — into one of the hottest in the league — without him.
Nevertheless, the Hawks will undoubtedly benefit from Saad’s return, as he had been arguably the team’s most reliable puck-carrier and chance-generator through the first two months.
Saad still leads all team forwards in on-ice shot attempt ratio and ranks second (behind Kubalik) in on-ice scoring chance ratio.
“He’s been great all year for us,” Colliton said. “Really strong on the puck, and he can carry it from zone to zone. It’s a big benefit to us defensively, just because when he does get it anywhere above the dots — in ‘D’ zone typically — it [always] does enter their end somehow. That really helps us, and he’s been producing for us. Doesn’t seem to matter who he plays with, he produces.”
That last point is important, because it seems unlikely Saad will rejoin the first line right now. Colliton, in fact, called him “a good piece to move around.”
The third-line wing alongside Kirby Dach and Alex DeBrincat, which has been occupied quietly by traditional center David Kampf, is one logical landing spot.
Drake Caggiula, who missed two months with his concussion, said his time off helped him work on and improve his game in a way that he wouldn’t have had time for if healthy. Saad didn’t enjoy as lengthy a period of practicing that Caggiula did, but was able to work on his upper-body strength.
“You really don’t have that much time during the season, it’s more maintenance, so I feel strong, I feel good,” Saad said. “And then getting back out on the ice, you’re working with the skills coach and that aspect of the game. So it is different avenues, you just try to improve what you can.”
The morale impact of Saad’s return may be just as big as the tangible one, too.
“We’ve made some great strides as a team,” Toews said. “When we start getting some of our key guys back in the lineup — Saader being one of them — it’s only going to give us another boost.”
Note: The Hawks recalled 21-year-old rookie forward Brandon Hagel from the AHL on Thursday. He could make his NHL debut before the break. “[We] definitely brought him here with the intention that he would get in at some point,” Colliton said.
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