Blackhawks’ Alex Vlasic day-to-day with lower-body injury

Vlasic sustained the injury at the beginning of the third period of Sunday’s 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild when he was hit hard against the boards while playing the puck out of the Blackhawks’ zone. He immediately went to the bench after the play and was skating gingerly while getting there. He was never confirmed by Chicago to be out of the game during the third, but he did not return, with the Blackhawks eventually confirming his injury and timeline a couple of hours after the game’s conclusion.

With Vlasic’s timeline for return only being day-to-day, it’s highly likely that he will be healthy by the time opens their season against the Florida Panthers in just over a week’s time. If anything, his exit from the game and the current timeline for return is just a precaution to avoid worsening the injury during meaningless preseason action.

Vlasic spent most of the game on the top pair alongside Sam Rinzel before exiting the game. With Vlasic out, Rinzel saw a steady rotation of minutes with the other four Blackhawks’ defensemen in the lineup that game.

The game was Vlasic’s first of the preseason, with him getting no points, a blocked shot and a giveaway in 11:54 of ice time.

In his second full season in the NHL, Vlasic put together his most productive season with four goals and 26 assists for 30 points in 82 games. That was almost double his production from the 2023-24 season across the board, as he had two goals, 14 assists and 16 points that season.

Vlasic has also put together a decent resume defensively early on in his career, with a -0.04 5v5 regularized adjusted plus-minus expected goals against per 60 minutes in the past three seasons, courtesy of Evolving Hockey. That said, he struggled in that regard last season with a 0.09 5v5 RAPM xGA/60.

The Blackhawks will resume their preseason action on Tuesday when they host the Detroit Red Wings at 7 p.m. CST. They currently have a 2-1-0 record in the preseason.