Toews & Eager Back In The Lineup For The Blackhawks
Tonight when they take the ice against the LA Kings, the Chicago Blackhawks will welcome two very important players back into their lineup: Jonathan Toews and Ben Eager.
Captain Toews has missed the last six games with a concussion, a stretch that saw the Hawks go 3-2-1 and saw their goal total drop from 31 in their first nine games to just 12 in their last six. Center Dave Bolland is sidelined with a back injury, so Toews' return is all the more crucial. Second-year forward Kris Versteeg will once again fill Bolland's place tonight against the Kings, while Toews will rejoin linemates Patrick Sharp and Dustin Byfuglien.
Eager hasn't played since the team's second contest against the
Panthers in Finland. He, too, has been reportedly suffering from
concussion-like symptoms. There may be more to the story than that,
though. When he returned to practice last week Eager said of missing 14
games: ''It wasn't so much a concussion as it was leftover effects from
last
year's long playoff run and not having that long a summer. I didn't
feel right when I came back, and I felt I needed some
time off."
Coach Joel Quenneville knew that Eager wasn't 100% back in the preseason.
''His level of play wasn't what it was last year, and we found out
why,'' Quenneville told reporters. ''He said it's day and night since where he
was at the start of training camp and where he is today, so hopefully
it doesn't re-occur. It's a big hurdle he crossed, and it's nice that
he's feeling better.''
Fans
will have to wait a few more months before they can see the return of
the Hawks' spectacular fourth line of Eager, Adam Burish and Colin
Fraser; Burish is still recovering from an ACL tear suffered in the
preseason. Eager and Fraser are instead matched with newcomer Tomas
Kopecky, a former Red Wing acquired by the Hawks this offseason.
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