Blackhawks winger Nick Foligno is already on injured reserve with a fractured finger sustained last week against the Devils but has remained without a recovery timeline. Today, he told reporters (including the Chicago Sun-Times’ Ben Pope) that doctors have informed him he’ll be on a week-to-week timeline.
The Blackhawks’ most veteran player, at 36 years old and 1,100-plus games played, is fresh off signing a two-year, $9MM extension. He’s seen heavy deployment with rookie Connor Bedard this season, although both are now sidelined due to separate injuries both sustained against the Devils. He’s been elevated back to first-line minutes for the first time since 2021, his last season as captain of the Blue Jackets, partly due to additional injuries to other Blackhawks forwards like Taylor Hall. With eight goals and 17 points through 39 games, he’s fourth on the team in points behind Bedard, Philipp Kurashev and Jason Dickinson.
- Sticking with Chicago, number-one blueliner Seth Jones is officially back in the lineup tonight against the Stars after missing 15 games with a lower-body injury, per NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis. Coming out to make room is veteran Jarred Tinordi, who had two points in his last three games. Jones, who has averaged over 25 minutes per game this year, returns to a top-pairing role with youngster Alex Vlasic to his left. Despite his injury, Jones and Vlasic have still seen the most ice time together of any Blackhawks defense pairing this season at 254 minutes in 25 games, per MoneyPuck. In 27 appearances on the year, Jones has 11 assists and a -5 rating.