As we discussed here last week, with the Blackhawks near the bottom of the NHL standings and nowhere near the playoffs with 30 games left to play, the time has come for Chicago to bring its top prospects to the NHL and get them some run while the stakes are low. No one in the pipeline is more noteworthy than defenseman Artyom Levshunov, who was drafted No. 2 overall last summer. Blackhawks fans everywhere will be eagerly watching for the next year or so to see when he makes it to the league.
On Monday, those fans technically got their wish when the Blackhawks finally called up their top prospect. The caveat – Chicago doesn’t plan to play him in any games. With Levshunov’s IceHogs on the AHL All-Star Break, Rockford doesn’t have another game until Friday. The Blackhawks don’t play until Wednesday, making this an excellent time to try new things in practice.
“With the AHL currently in their All-Star break, we felt this would be a good opportunity for Arty’s development to come and get some NHL-level practice experience, something he was not able to do during training camp this season due to injury. While we don’t expect him to see any game action during his recall, we’re confident the experience will be a positive one for Arty as he continues on his development path.”
– GM Kyle Davidson
It’s a shrewd move for a GM that faces constant pressure to bring up prospects as soon as possible. Davidson has been patiently building his roster of the future, and this move is another example of that. He doesn’t want to bring Levshunov up too soon and ruin him, but this is a chance to let him see the speed of the NHL game, then give him a chance to find out what he needs to work on in his time in Rockford.
It wasn’t all good news – in a corresponding move, the Blackhawks placed defenseman Louis Crevier on injured reserve retroactive to February 1. Crevier is in concussion protocol after being boarded on Saturday, but is having a surprisingly excellent season so far. Through 23 games, he has a plus-minus of -1, meaning he’s been a big boost for a team near the bottom of the standings.
