At Saturday’s morning skate, the Blackhawks came out with a surprising announcement that Seth Jones would be hitting injured reserve. The five-time All Star appeared to take a shot off his right foot last Thursday in Seattle, and while he finished the game, he apparently went downhill from there. Jones was quickly placed on IR without much clarification on when he would return.
The Blackhawks promised more information on Jones’ injury this week, and the latest update isn’t good. Head coach Luke Richardson announced Wednesday that Jones is expected to miss four weeks with his injury.
That timeline means he’ll miss around 13 games, including the last two that he was already out for. The timing is far from ideal. The Blackhawks are scheduled for pretty much nonstop action to start December. After finishing out November with four more games, Chicago has a whopping 15 contests throughout next month. That means Jones will be missing pretty much as many games as he possibly could within that timeline.
The timing of Jones’ injury also isn’t great for Chicago’s product on the ice. When he was healthy, the defenseman led the entire NHL in ice time per game. Without him, the lower-pairing blueliners will have to step up. We’ve already seen that in action, with Connor Murphy skating over 25 minutes in Vancouver and Alex Vlasic logging 26:34 of ice time against the Ducks Tuesday. Vlasic was on the top power play unit in Jones’ place, where he’ll likely stay until the star can return. Newcomer Alec Martinez was skating on the second unit in practice Wednesday.
Speaking of Martinez, we’ll have to keep an eye on whether Jones’ return timeline is accurate, because the Blackhawks haven’t exactly been flawless in that department this season. When goaltender Laurent Brossoit underwent surgery back in August, he was scheduled to potentially be ready for the team’s debut back in October. Even Martinez saw his recovery timeline be pushed back a few times. Will Seth Jones actually be back in a month, or will it be more of the same in Chicago?
On the bright side, with the Blackhawks currently far from contending, Jones’ absence does open up a few more opportunities for young players. Vlasic and Wyatt Kaiser will be put in more prominent roles, and Nolan Allan should get a few more chances. Louis Crevier, who is now on the NHL roster, could draw into the lineup at some point, which will make all Blackhawks fans collectively hold their breath.
The only other silver lining – at least this didn’t happen last season. The 2023-24 Blackhawks had one of the shallowest defensive units in the league, with Crevier, Isaak Phillips and even Filip Roos drawing into the lineup. After adding Martinez and Brodie this summer, Chicago is much better off than it would have been a year ago.
