The Blackhawks will be without defenseman Michal Rozsival when the puck drops on their series opener against Nashville on Thursday as they announced that the blueliner underwent surgery today to repair facial fractures sustained against the Ducks last week. The veteran was a depth player for Chicago for most of the season, getting into 22 games while averaging 15:30 per night in ice time. There is no timetable for his potential return but the team noted he’s expected to make a full recovery. Forward Andrew Desjardins, who also was injured against Anaheim, remains day-to-day with a lower body injury.
Chicago will get a boost up front against the Predators as center Artem Anisimov will return to the lineup after missing the last month with a leg injury, notes CSN Chicago’s Tracey Myers. He had been skating for the last week as he worked himself back into game shape. Anisimov is expected to rejoin wingers Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane inside their top six forward group.
More injury news from around the NHL:
- Senators defenseman Marc Methot is listed as a game-time decision for Wednesday’s series opener against Boston, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun notes. Head coach Guy Boucher calls Methot’s situation the only one he’ll have to make a decision on and that they could still opt to rest him up for a few more days. The blueliner has missed the last nine games with a lacerated finger suffered after being slashed by Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby on March 23rd.
- The Blues will likely be without center Paul Stastny when they open up their series against Minnesota tomorrow night, reports Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He suffered a broken foot back on March 21st against Colorado and has been out of the lineup since then. It’s expected that Ivan Barbashev will open up the series in his place on the top line alongside Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko.
- Bruins centers David Krejci and Dominic Moore missed practice today and while the team is hopeful that both will be ready to take on Ottawa tomorrow, head coach Bruce Cassidy told CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty that it’s not a guarantee that either will be available. He noted that both players are going through “maintenance work” at the moment. Krejci’s absence in particular is noteworthy as this is the second straight practice he missed. Not only has he been Boston’s top postseason scorer in two of their last four playoff appearances, he also led the NHL in playoff points in those two years.