TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The Blackhawks suffered some major losses to their prospects’ corps Tuesday.
Kirby Dach, Adam Boqvist, Phillip Kurashev and Mikael Hakkarainen — certainly the best two players on the team, and arguably four of the best — all departed with injuries during the Hawks’ final game of the Traverse City prospects tournament, a matchup against the Wild.
Dach was boarded hard behind the attacking goal less than halfway into the period by Minnesota free-agent invite Darian Pilon.
The 2019 third overall selection was slow to get up, then skated off with his left arm appearing to hang limp. He was taken to the locker room under his own accord after a brief consultation on the bench with Hawks’ trainers.
He emerged for the second period in his usual gray suit, chewing gum and watching the game, seemingly fine. He declined comment on his status.
Boqvist, Kurashev and Hakkarainen left shortly after with injuries of their own.
Kurashev was a victim of a hard boarding penalty, leading to an ejection of Wild prospect Damien Giroux. The Rockford-bound forward laid in a fetal position for quite a while before gingerly making his way to the locker rom.
Boqvist and Hakkarainen’s injuries were unclear.
The disastrous game comes just one day after the Hawks held both Dach and Boqvist out of Monday’s contest against the Blues for rest purposes.
In the Sun-Times’ under-21 Hawks prospect rankings, released Tuesday morning, Dach placed No. 1, Boqvist No. 2, and Kurashev No. 5. Hakkarainen, a 2018 fifth-round selection, was a standout Monday.
This article will be updated when more information becomes available.
