The Chicago Blackhawks have placed Riley Stillman on injured reserve while recalling Wyatt Kalynuk to take his place on the roster. Stillman suffered a left knee injury in Sunday night’s game when Tyler Motte was pushed into his leg from behind. The team has not indicated how long he’ll be out for, but a stint on IR means at least a week.
Stillman, 23, is another one of the players in their first full season with the Blackhawks, after being acquired at last season’s deadline along with Brett Connolly and Henrik Borgstrom. The young defenseman had played in 12 games and was averaging more than 15 minutes a night before going down early Sunday night. Unfortunately, even those limited minutes had led to pretty poor results to this point, with the Blackhawks outscored 6-2 with Stillman on the ice at even-strength.
Kalynuk, meanwhile, had been dealing with a injury of his own, starting the year on LTIR and only joining the Rockford Icehogs earlier this month. He has played in four games and has three points, continuing his history of production at the professional level. Since leaving the University of Wisconsin and signing with Chicago, Kalynuk has played 33 games combined between the AHL and NHL. He has 22 points in those contests, including seven goals. With the loss of Stillman, he could get an opportunity immediately to get back into the Blackhawks lineup and continue his strong early play.
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