Blackhawks News & Rumors: Dickinson, Foligno, Rinzel & Leadership

The Chicago Blackhawks have a 9-5-4 record this season and have been a pleasant surprise, performing well.

They have shown early on to be a resilient team, but, as in any other NHL season, they will face adversity, and their current injury report is significant.

Here is the latest news and rumors.

How Blackhawks Are Facing Foligno’s Injury

The Blackhawks got some bad news during their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Captain Nick Foligno left during the second period with a hand injury, and head coach Jeff Blashill said postgame that he estimated around four weeks. The team officially placed him on injured reserve on Nov. 17.

Blashill mentioned postgame how much of a loss Foligno is on the leadership side. He continued, “He’s also a big loss on the ice. He’s been a regular on our power play, a regular on our penalty kill, and he also gives us a guy who can go out, win a face-off on that left side and kind of solidify a line. I think he’s a smart player that can help other guys play with energy, because he can [be] cerebral and think his way around the game. So it’ll be a loss, but that’s this league. You know, everybody in the league’s got guys that are down, and you got to find ways to take the guys that you have and find a way to win.”

Teuvo Teravainen also said about Foligno after the Toronto game, “He’s everything on this team.” With Foligno’s extended absence, how the team adapts will be worth noting.

Dickinson’s Recovery Update

Jason Dickinson has had a difficult start to the season. He has played in only eight of 18 games due to injuries and is on injured reserve. He spoke with the media on Nov. 17 and said this was his third injury.

Even though he has been skating at practice, his return will have to wait. “I feel really good, but last week, I wasn’t confident to not go out there and re-injure it again, because I was saying just earlier, I came back for a few games, got hurt, came back for a few games, I got hurt. I don’t want to keep doing that. It’s hard on me, it’s hard on the group. It’s not fair to anybody to do that. So, I got to make sure that I’m at a point where when I come back, I’m going to be back for good, and this isn’t going to be something that I got to keep monitoring.”

It’s not ideal for the Blackhawks to be without one of their best centers, but the good news is that his recovery seems to be on track.

Rinzel’s Healthy Scratch

The hot topic has been around rookie defenseman Sam Rinzel. The 21-year-old was a healthy scratch against the Maple Leafs. It seemed like a move that was on the horizon because Blashill moved Rinzel from the first power-play unit to the second unit. Against the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 12, Alex Vlasic started the game with Louis Crevier on the top pair instead of Rinzel.

Blashill spoke to the media about what he was looking to see from Rinzel back in the lineup against the Calgary Flames on Nov. 18.

“Just getting back to playing the way that he’s fully capable of, and that I know he can, because he’s done it this year. Like this year, he’s been an elite player at times in this league. And I can think of games where I walked away thinking he was the best player on the ice. When you’re a guy who has the offensive ability that he has, there’s certainly a balance, I think, for him, particularly of when to control the puck- which is what he does, really, really well, and when to kind of make the play that’s available.”

“And then, the other thing we’ve talked about is just sensing danger- when there’s just times to kind of realize I got to make sure I’m on the D side of somebody at the critical moment.”