Anisimov gets Isle seat, could return vs. Lightning
Artem Anisimov isn’t worried about whether he’ll get his old spot next to Patrick Kane back or if he’ll be slotted somewhere in the bottom six. After missing nine games and counting, he just wants to play again.
“I just want to get healthy and get ready to play,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what line. I just need to play.”
Anisimov participated Friday in his first full practice since he suffered an upper- body injury Dec. 28 in Vancouver, but he won’t play Saturday against the Islanders. Coach Joel Quenneville hopes he’ll be in the lineup Monday against the Lightning.
For Anisimov, it’s no longer about the injury; it’s about conditioning. With all the time off, then the bye week, the practice was a slog.
“It was pretty tough,” he said. “I’m getting there.”
Quenneville said he was still weighing his options for Anisimov. Nick Schmaltz has played well as Kane’s center, but Anisimov has struggled whenever he has been apart from Kane. Anisimov has 13 goals and five assists in 36 games.
“We had himon two or three different lines this morning, thinking he had a chance [ to play Saturday],” Quenneville said. “Lots of options right now.”
Roster report
Erik Gustafsson could make his season debut against the Islanders. The recent Rockford call- up was skating on a pairing with Brent Seabrook, and Connor Murphy was on a pairing with Michal Kempny, both of whom could be healthy scratches.
“He’s been around, and he’s eager to go,” Quenneville said. “I look forward to seeing what he can do.”
Gustafsson hasn’t played in the NHL since the 201516 season, when he had 14 assists in 41 games with the Hawks. In other lineup news, Anthony Duclair was skating on the top line with Brandon Saad and Jonathan Toews, and Vinnie Hinostroza was on the third line with Alex DeBrincat and David Kampf. Anton Forsberg will start in goal.
Central concern
While the Hawks’ hole only deepened during the bye week, Quenneville derived a bit of optimism— sort of— from the everchanging nature of the playoff picture, particularly the Avalanche’s eight- game winning streak and the Kings’ five- game losing streak. The Avs were the worst team in hockey last season.
“You look at where they were last year and where they were at the beginning of the year, then you run off eight straight games,” Quenneville said. “And you [ see] where L. A. was atop the conference recently, and now they’re not in a playoff spot. It changes quickly. The value of those two points [ every night] is tremendously huge. Right now we dug a huge hole. It’s up to us to get ourselves in contention again, and that’s our challenge.”