With the 2021 NHL regular season set to begin on Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks made their final roster moves on Tuesday night in preparation for their matchup against the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
First, defensemen Anton Lindholm and Nick Seeler, forward John Quenneville, and goaltender Matt Tomkins were assigned to the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League after clearing waivers.
ROSTER MOVES: Players assigned to @goicehogs ↕️
𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱
John Quenneville𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻
Anton Lindholm
Nick Seeler𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿
Matt Tomkinshttps://t.co/49hpQXHogx— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 12, 2021
Then, the Blackhawks named forwards Brandon Hagel and Philipp Kurashev, defensemen Nicolas Beaudin, Lucas Carlsson, and Wyatt Kalynuk, and goaltender Kevin Lankinen to the NHL taxi squad for the beginning of the 2021 season.
#Blackhawks taxi squad
Forwards: Brandon Hagel, Philipp Kurashev
Defensemen: Nicolas Beaudin, Lucas Carlsson, Wyatt Kalynuk
Goaltender: Kevin Lankinen
— Brandon Cain (@brandonmcain) January 12, 2021
Finally, the Blackhawks placed forward Alex Nylander, who underwent knee surgery before training camp, on long-term injured reserve. Forward Zack Smith was also placed on injured reserve because of his back injury.
Blackhawks place Alex Nylander (knee) on LTIR. Zack Smith, who cleared waivers, is on injured reserve, which is gonna require some explanation.
John Quenneville, Anton Lindholm, Nick Seeler and Matt Tomkins were assigned to Rockfoed.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 12, 2021
Blackhawks Final Roster
As a result of all these moves, the Blackhawks’ roster for tomorrow’s contest against Tampa Bay has become clear.
Forwards: Ryan Carpenter, Alex DeBrincat, Matthew Highmore, Mattias Janmark, David Kampf, Patrick Kane, Dominik Kubalik, Brandon Pirri, Andrew Shaw, Carl Soderberg, Dylan Strome, Pius Suter, Lucas Wallmark
Defensemen: Adam Boqvist, Calvin de Haan, Duncan Keith, Ian Mitchell, Connor Murphy, Nikita Zadorov
Goaltenders: Collin Delia, Malcolm Subban
Defenseman Brent Seabrook is the most notable name left off the final roster (aside from Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach), but he has been deemed “unfit to participate” since the Blackhawks opened training camp last Monday. GM Stan Bowman stated on Tuesday that Seabrook is not skating yet, and the organization will soon announce why he has been absent.
The surprise of the roster certainly is Pirri, as he’s already 29 years old and has just 49 NHL games under his belt since the start of the 2017-18 season. But the Blackhawks’ second-round pick (No. 59 overall) back in 2009 had impressive flashes with the Vegas Golden Knights over the past few years and could provide much-needed offense to the lineup.
Soderberg solved his visa issues recently and has arrived in Chicago. However, the 35-year-old Swedish forward is currently quarantining and still expected to miss the Blackhawks four-game road trip to start the season.
Blackhawks Taxi Squad
After Lindholm, Quenneville, Seeler, and Tomkins went unclaimed through waivers and were sent down to Rockford, the Blackhawks were left with six prospects on their taxi squad.
Forwards: Brandon Hagel, Philipp Kurashev
Defensemen: Nicolas Beaudin, Lucas Carlsson, Wyatt Kalynuk
Goaltender: Kevin Lankinen
With the AHL regular season not scheduled to begin until February 5, the Blackhawks were wise to keep a handful of their top prospects on the taxi squad. Not only will they be taught how to be professional hockey players by veterans like Kane, Keith, and Seabrook, but they will also get to practice alongside those guys for an extra month. Exactly how it should be for a team in the midst of a rebuild.
Rockford IceHogs Roster
On Tuesday, the Blackhawks sent training camp invitees Andrei Altybarmakyan, Evan Barratt, Matej Chalupa, MacKenzie Entwistle, Reese Johnson, Chad Krys, Cale Morris, Cam Morrison, Tim Soderlund, Alec Regula, and Michal Teply down to Rockford.
While each of these players failed to make the Blackhawks’ final roster out of camp, they all will receive valuable playing time with the IceHogs this season. Also, with the Blackhawks not expected to make the playoffs, there will likely be numerous NHL call-ups throughout the course of the year.
Regula and Teply, both first-year professionals, have the highest potential upside of the group. Entwistle, Johnson, Krys, and Soderlund all were with the IceHogs in 2019-20 and are looking to take the next step in their development.
