Blackhawks Practice: Louis Crevier ‘Ready to Go’

After a “get-back-to-work” practice on Tuesday, the Chicago Blackhawks had a more standard session at the Fifth Third Arena today. They are preparing for a busy weekend with back-to-back games against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday.

Defense Back to Full Strength

Louis Crevier has been in the NHL’s concussion protocol since taking a high hit during the Feb. 1 game against the Florida Panthers. He returned to practice on Tuesday wearing a green non-contact jersey. The green jersey was left in the locker room today as he was a full participant and is “ready to go.” Interim head coach Anders Sorensen said he passed all his tests and was ready to take contact.

Concussions were a hot topic of discussion today after the Concussion Legacy Foundation posthumously diagnosed Blackhawks Hall of Famer Bobby Hull with CTE.

“The NHL does a really good job of showing videos and talking through it at training camp,” Sorensen said of the league’s concussion program. “We’re aware of it and keep an eye on players all the time. We’re in constant communication with the trainers on how guys are feeling.”

With Crevier healthy again and T.J. Brodie back from a personal matter, the Blackhawks have eight defensemen on the roster. It will be interesting to see if they swap a defenseman for an extra forward on Friday. Ethan Del Mastro was just recalled on Tuesday, but the team only has 12 forwards. They never recalled one after Jason Dickinson was lost to injury on Feb. 6.

The Rockford IceHogs play three games in three days starting Friday. The logical move is to recall a forward for Friday’s practice so you have an extra one for the weekend. Therefore, if you need to recall somebody to play on Sunday, they won’t be coming off two games in 24 hours.

Fourth Line Clicking Again

Sorensen mentioned that today’s practice stressed creating more offensive zone time. They watched video on some scenarios where the zone time was increased from the last five games, worked on it today, and will try to implement it on Saturday.

Now that Craig Smith is back, the Blackhawks have their most effective line back together with him, Pat Maroon, and Lukas Reichel. This trio has the second-most 5v5 ice time of all the line combinations this season. They will take over the top spot on Saturday because Dickinson is out.

“They’ve created some offensive, but they also have predictability defensively,” Sorensen said. “Earlier in the year, they were really good together. They complement each other. It’s a really good mix, and as long as it’s working, we’re going to keep playing them together.

You don’t think of offense when you look at those three names on paper. However, their 46.6 CF% is the fourth-best among lines that have played at least 60 minutes together. No line has created more than the fourth line’s 75 scoring chances or 34 high-danger scoring chances. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.