The Chicago Blackhawks welcomed back top defenseman Connor Murphy from a right hip injury Monday, but will lose Lucas Carlsson for 10 to 14 days with a strained groin.
Forward Dylan Strome was also a scratch from Monday’s practice in Columbus and has been placed in concussion protocol.
Murphy, who has two goals and three assists in 13 games, was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 9.
He had played significant minutes on defense — 22:45 per game, second only to Duncan Keith — that the Hawks elected to go to a seven-defenseman format instead of the traditional six so the team could split his ice time between two blue liners.
Carlsson, who missed practice Sunday, played 10 games for the Hawks this season and 17 since last season, including a postseason appearance against the Vegas Golden Knights this summer.
[Most read in Sports] Chicago Cubs roster projection 1.0: Which 26 players will break camp for the 2021 season opener? »
Carlsson hasn’t registered a point and has averaged 12 minutes, 43 seconds of ice time in 10 games.
While Carlsson and Murphy swap places on the injury report, the Hawks still have seven active defensemen and will have to figure how to distribute ice time. It was easier to place Carlsson in a time share with another young defenseman like Nicolas Beaudin, but now coach Jeremy Colliton may be forced to decide which gets priority: experience or youth.
He mulled such a scenario last week when asked to consider what his lineup might look like when Murphy returned as well as whether some veterans might balk at sacrificing minutes.
“You’d be naïve not to think about it, but ultimately we have to put the best group on the ice that’ll help us win,” Colliton said. “At the same time, we need to continue to have a long-range perspective on things and not just today how we’re going to win, but how about next week? Next month?
“We’re trying to build here as the season goes on. That’s been our mindset. We’re seeing the fruits of that already. We have a lot of young guys playing well. That’s something we have to keep in mind when we make decisions.”
Meanwhile, Strome is the second Hawks forward placed in concussion protocol. Andrew Shaw was placed on injured reserve Feb. 11.
Strome has four goals and four assists, plays on the power-play first unit and hasn’t been able to help the Hawks much as a face-off man (44.6%).
But Colliton still has faith in him.
“I think he’s had some good moments,” Colliton said. “He had some (scoring) chances last game (andreagainst the Carolina Hurricanes), he had the slot play in the second period where he just missed. We had a couple two-on-ones that didn’t quite work out, one we created a chance off his pass. So if the puck goes in the net then it’s a different narrative.
“We’ve got to be careful to (not) look too much into the results as far as evaluating guys. He can play better, for sure, I think he would agree with that. But we believe in him and he’s one of those guys if you can get him back to the level he was playing at to begin here, it can really help us.”
