Blackhawks healthy scratch Teuvo Teravainen for season opener

It might be unexpected for a player of Teravainen’s stature and resume to be a healthy scratch to start a season, but he was the team’s 13th forward in Monday’s practice, so this decision hasn’t come out of nowhere.

Teravainen, 32, is coming off somewhat of a down year, as he played 75 games for Chicago last season and had 14 goals and 21 assists for 35 points, a 23-point drop off from his previous season.

Initially selected 18th overall by the Blackhawks in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, the Finnish national spent his first couple of seasons in Chicago, including winning the Stanley Cup in 2015, before getting traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in June of 2016. He developed into a legitimate top-six forward in Carolina, with his career-best campaign coming in the 2018-19 season in which he notched 21 goals and 55 assists for 76 points in 82 games.

After eight seasons with the Hurricanes, Teravainen signed a three-year, $16.2 million contract to rejoin the Blackhawks as an unrestricted free agent (UFA) in July of 2024. He is scheduled to become a UFA again next offseason.

Chicago will also be without star center Connor Bedard, as he is still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

After kicking off their season in Vegas on Tuesday, the Blackhawks will visit the Utah Mammoth on Thursday and the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday before playing their home opener against the St. Louis Blues on October 6.