Blackhawks News & Rumors: Levshunov, Jones, Slaggert, More

Levshunov wasn’t able to participate in Blackhawks’ training camp in October due to a fractured right foot, so this serves as a make-up session of sorts. It obviously beats Levshunov just sitting around all week. According to general manager Kyle Davidson,

With the AHL currently in their All-Star break, we felt this would be a good opportunity for Arty’s development to come and get some NHL-level practice experience, something he was not able to do during training camp this season due to injury. While we don’t expect him to see any game action during his recall, we’re confident the experience will be a positive one for Arty as he continues on his development path.

As noted above, Levshunov is not expected to play in any games during his recall. The idea is simply to have him be involved with the team, practicing and learning. In the young blueliner’s first practice on Monday (Feb. 3) he lined up on a fourth defensive pairing alongside Nolan Allan. Head coach Anders Sorensen thought he handled himself well.

It certainly does make sense for Levshunov to absorb some of the atmosphere at the NHL level this week. He’ll also be able to get some input and pointers from the coaching staff. He can then take that back to the IceHogs to further hone his skills.

The IceHogs play again on Friday night (Feb. 7), so I would expect the Belarus native to return to Rockford for that contest. With the IceHogs this season, Levshunov has contributed three goals (second to only Cavan Fitzgerald among defensemen) and 13 points in 38 games, playing on the top defensive pairing. His 112 shots on goal leads all AHL rookies, and ranks second on the IceHogs (forward Cole Guttman is first with 113 shots on goal).   

Trade Rumors on Donato, Murphy, Jones

As the Mar. 7 trade deadline approaches, all eyes are on who might be traded from the Blackhawks. The organization is attempting to go younger as the rebuilding process continues. They’re also in the market to potentially add an established player or two to complement said rebuild (and especially Connor Bedard). They already pulled the plug on Taylor Hall, trading him to the Carolina Hurricanes for a third-round pick. Frank Seravalli of the Daily faceoff recently released a Trade Targets board that includes Blackhawks’ Seth Jones, Connor Murphy and Ryan Donato.

Donato is a depth player that’s scrappy and just plays the game the right way. Any contending team would love to have someone like that around for a playoff push. He’s also young enough (28) to work moving forward with the Blackhawks as well. The latter is what I would personally like to see, but I wouldn’t blame Davidson for letting Donato go if the return was right.  

Murphy is a solid and reliable defenseman, but his recent ongoing injury issues might make a deal difficult.

Jones, on the other hand, was a longshot in the past because of his mega $9.5 million contract that lasts for another five seasons beyond this one. But the recent massive salary cap increases have made it so teams wouldn’t be so strapped taking on Jones’s contract. In other words, it’s a definite possibility that Jones could go elsewhere.

I personally don’t think the Blackhawks’ blue line isn’t in a position to part with Jones just yet. He’s an established defenseman that eats up tons of minutes in all situations. He’s actually a VERY GOOD all-around defenseman. Not worth $9.5 million, but because of that fans tend to undervalue the contributions he makes on the ice.

Without Jones, a lot of pressure would be put on a very young defensive corps, long before they are ready to take on that responsibility. “But Jones is a bum!” the fan base says. The argument here is he doesn’t care enough to put in the effort and be the mentor this rebuilding team needs.

Well, only Jones himself knows the answer to that. Does he want to stay and try to finish what’s been started? Or does he want to move on to greener pastures, to a club that will be contending much sooner than Chicago?

The 30-year-old has a full no-movement clause, so the decision is really in his hands. If he wants to stay, the organization will want to get a commitment that he’ll play the way he has for the last six games (two goals and seven assists while averaging over 24 minutes of ice time). If not, they should eat some of his salary if they have to in order to facilitate a trade.  

Slaggert Promoted to Top Line

Let’s move on to some lineup updates. Forward prospect Landon Slaggert has definitely impressed in his first three games with the big club. He’s already scored two goals, including the fastest goal in franchise history against the Panthers last Saturday (Feb. 1).

The 2020 third round draft pick (79th overall) originally slotted in on the third line with Donato and Nick Foligno. But Slaggert and Donato played most of the Panthers’ game up with Bedard on the top line. This is where they were slotted again in practice on Monday. Coach Sorensen gave his thoughts on his promotion of Slaggert.

Frank Nazar is another prospect that caused a lot of buzz when he was called up in mid-December. But even he took 12 games before he scored his first goal. Speaking of Nazar, he and & Tyler Bertuzzi are now on the third line with Foligno.

The Blackhawks could certainly use a spark right now, and so far Slaggert is providing it. Let’s see if he can keep it up.

Other Blackhawks Notes

Here are a few other noteworthy tidbits regarding the Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks are back in action this Wednesday (Feb. 5) when they host the Edmonton Oilers. They’ll also face the Nashville Predators at the United Center on Friday, before heading to St. Louis to take on the Blues on Saturday. They’ll then have off for the 4-Nations break until Feb. 22, when they face the Columbus Blue Jackets.