Blackhawks D Seth Jones out 3-4 weeks with thumb injury

Chicago head coach Luke Richardson said Jones suffered the injury in the second period of Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres when blocking a shot. He stayed in the game for the third period and overtime, logging 23:55 minutes of ice time and registering an assist in the loss.

The current timeline has Jones projected to return in late November, likely missing 10-13 games as a result. Chicago opted to put Jake McCabe on the top pair alongside Jack Johnson to replace Jones for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Wild, with Filip Roos coming into the lineup in Jones’ place. Seth’s brother Caleb Jones replaced him on the top power-play unit in the game as well.

Jones has been off to a solid, but quiet start pointwise this season, with four assists in eight games. He’s coming off his second-best offensive season in 2021-22, with five goals, 46 assists, and 51 points in 78 games in his first season in Chicago. However, he’s struggled defensively since he was dealt to Chicago in the summer of 2021, with a 47.1% shot attempt share and 46.54% expected goal share at even strength with his new team.

It’s another big blow to a Chicago team that’s off to a surprisingly good start, going 4-3-1 and currently third in the Central division after selling off a lot of their better pieces over the past year. They may also be looking to sell franchise pillars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews before the trade deadline this season. They already have forward Tyler Johnson and goaltender Petr Mrazek on injured reserve as well, all coming in just the first few weeks of the season.