Blackhawks News: Kane is back, Reichel sent down, and more

The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. They skated with the defending Stanley Cup champions on home ice and pulled out a victory which is not an easy thing to do.

Of course, the Avalanche are not the team they were last year right now. There is a clear Stanley Cup hangover that has been helped by injuries and inconsistent play. The Blackhawks found a way to take advantage of it on this one night.

It is good to win games but that is now three wins in a row for them. They like winning but it isn’t great for their odds of winning the number one overall pick. With how well we’ve seen Connor Bedard play recently, it is a little bit worrisome.

Now, on this three-game winning streak, they are getting ready to host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night.

Patrick Kane Is Back

Patrick Kane left before the third period of last week’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He hasn’t returned since and the team went 3-0 in his absence. Now, he is set to return for this game against the Seattle Kraken. 

Patrick Kane is currently second on the Blackhawks in team scoring with 27 points. We will see how he plays from now until the trade deadline when he is expected to get dealt for things that will help the team in the future.

Lukas Reichel Is Sent Down

To make room for Patrick Kane, the Blackhawks decided to send Lukas Reichel down to the Rockford Ice Hogs. This is a strange decision because Reichel is clearly an NHL player that is getting better with each passing day.

The Blackhawks clearly have no interest in winning despite being on a three-game streak. There are plenty of other guys that could have come out of the lineup in favor of Kane but they would rather see Reichel continue to develop in Rockford.

He played just over 12 minutes against the Avalanche in the win so that doesn’t do much good for him anyway. Although this is a bad decision, it is one that will allow Reichel to go down there and dominate. He will be a full-time player soon enough.

Other NHL News:

The NHL All-Star vote is going strong in the league right now. We know who is each team’s representative as 32 initial players were named and one comes from each team. Seth Jones is the guy for the Hawks so it will be interesting to see if anyone else gets voted in.

Each division is voting in two more skaters and one more goalie. Patrick Kane or Max Domi is more deserving than Jones at this point but they will have to get voted in if they want to make it. As the season gets going in the second half, this is going to be a fun story to watch.