Down time: Seabrook getting fewer minutes
Brent Seabrook has been benched before. Few players, even among the Blackhawks’ vaunted core, have avoided coach Joel Quenneville’s ire completely. But it hasn’t happened often.
In fact, you need to go back nearly four years to find a situation similar to the one Seabrook found himself in Friday against the Hurricanes, when he spent the last six minutes of a one- goal game on the bench. Seabrook played only 15 minutes, 52 seconds against Carolina— his lowest ( not counting in- game injuries) since March 18, 2013, when he was benched for much of the second period after being burned for a shorthanded goal against the Avalanche.
Seabrook played 18: 08 in the Hawks’ win Sunday against the Predators, but that’s still far below his season average of more than 22 minutes per game.
“He had a great start to the season, defended well, [ got] involved in the offense and shot off the point,” Quenneville said after the morning skate Tuesday. “Defensively, when he’s playing his best, he’s killing plays, going to people quickly and [ making] quick outlet passes. ... We’d like to see him get back to that.”
Seabrook had two goals and nine assists, with a plus- 10 rating, in the first 19 games. In the 22 games since, he had no goals and 10 assists, with a minus- 11 rating. Perhaps most alarming, Seabrook— who has one of the biggest shots on the team— is on pace for only 117 shots on goal. He had 167 a season ago and 181 the season before that.
“Certain guys need to play, and certain guys get consideration to be out of the lineup, and we’ve [ made] that group five deep at some point over the course of 40- something games,” Quenneville said. “Seabrook is a regular player. We want him playing and want him confident. He provides leadership for us, as well, and his minutes are always valuable for us. We want to get him at that level we saw earlier in the year.”
Roster report
Marcus Kruger, who injured his right hand in Carolina on Dec. 30, is still on the same three- week timetable, Quenneville said. That would put his return around the three- game homestand starting Jan. 22.