De Haan here, then gone
Mysteriously missing goalie Corey Crawford remained “unfit to participate” on the second day of Blackhawks training camp Tuesday — and he wasn’t the only NHL regular absent.
Defenseman Calvin de Haan, whose participation Monday was his first appearance in seven months since undergoing shoulder surgery in December, was gone Tuesday because of what was called a family emergency.
“[It’s] unclear when he’ll be back,” said Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton who also had no update on Crawford.
Rookie Nicolas Beaudin skated with the first-team practice group and replaced de Haan in his pairing with Slater Koekkoek. The rest of the Hawks’ defensive pairs (Duncan Keith and Adam Boqvist, Connor Murphy and Olli Maatta and Brent Seabrook and Lucas Carlsson) remained unchanged.
Malcolm Subban and Kevin Lankinen were the goaltenders practicing with the first team, while Collin Delia practiced with the taxi squad. Colliton said to expect a rotation of the three as they compete to replace Crawford.
Hawks-Blues exhibition set
After traveling to the Edmonton postseason “bubble” site on July 26, the Hawks will play an exhibition game against the Blues on Wednesday, July 29, at 5:30 p.m. It’ll be their lone warmup contest before beginning a best-of-five series against the Oilers, for which the NHL also announced start times Tuesday. Game 1 on
Saturday, Aug. 1, will be a 2 p.m. matinee, while Games 2 and 3 on Aug. 3 and Aug. 5 will start at 9:30 p.m. — the final NHL playoff games those days.
Colliton supports Shaw
Hawks winger Andrew Shaw announced Monday he’ll sit out the playoffs and aim to return for the 2020-21 season.
“I feel healthy and am close to fully being healed from not just my last concussion but from others I have had over the years,” Shaw wrote in a statement. “[I] have come to the difficult decision that these extra five months until next season would be great for my health and recovery.”
Colliton said Tuesday that he has been in close contact with Shaw, relaying his own experiences with concussions. Colliton’s successful AHL career in the Islanders organization was derailed by head injuries.
“I’m familiar with what he’s going through, so I tried to be open with him with my own experiences,” the coach said. “Ultimately, he knows he has our support and we’re here for him so he can take care of himself and his family. In a perfect world, that would involve him returning [next season] and helping us win. But we’ll see.”