Blackhawks Reassign Dominic Toninato

According to a team announcement, the Chicago Blackhawks have assigned forward Dominic Toninato to the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. Toninato is expected to play for the IceHogs tonight against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

It’s a procedural move by the Blackhawks. With a five-day break until their next contest, Chicago has chosen to delay Toninato’s waiver eligibility. Once a player clears waivers, they don’t become eligible again until they’ve cumulatively played in 10 games or spent 30 days on the roster. Currently, Toninato has played in three games and spent 11 days on the Blackhawks.

However, if they want him back by next Friday, Toninato must play for Rockford this afternoon. To protect against paper transactions, a player must play in one AHL contest after reassignment to be eligible for another recall. The Blackhawks don’t play again until October 23rd. After today, Rockford’s next game isn’t until the 24th.

Still, unless there’s another injury, Toninato’s next recall should be his last for some time. Although he’ll likely be unavailable against the Montreal Canadiens, forward Andrew Mangiapane is expected to be activated from the injured reserve shortly thereafter.

Toninato, 32, is in his second season with Chicago after spending half a decade with the Winnipeg Jets. In his three games as an injury replacement, Toninato went scoreless while averaging 8:52 of ice time. Today’s contest will be his second with Rockford this season.