Team must adapt to star defenseman’s 3 game suspension

The Chicago Blackhawks Niklas Hjalmarsson has been suspended for the rest of the preseason and the first game of the regular season due to an illegal hit against St. Louis Blues Ty Rattie on Saturday, October 1st.  Blackhawks coaching staff will need to adjust to this loss especially during the season-opener. 

Fortunately, Duncan Keith returned just in time to fill in the void and was able to secure 2 assists during Tuesday nights 6-1 domination against the Detroit Red Wings.  With one last preseason match to go before the regular season kicks off young players such as Gustav Forsling may be granted more ice time due to the absence.

This can potentially provide more insight to the coaching staff on how to react to the situation during the first game of the 2016-2017 NHL regular season.