Blackhawks defenseman Alex Vlasic was wearing cut-resistant socks during a preseason game Sunday in Minnesota, but they weren’t resistant enough to prevent a fluky collision from slashing open his leg.
The Hawks, however, dodged a bullet with the injury. Even though Vlasic will miss the final week of training camp while the wound heals, he should be good to go for the season opener Tuesday against the Panthers in Florida, coach Jeff Blashill said.
‘‘I think maybe there’s a higher level [of cut resistance] we’ll go to and . . . talk to our guys about,’’ Blashill said. ‘‘It seems it’s happening more frequently than it used to.’’
Forward Landon Slaggert, who also has missed most of camp so far because of injury, also should be ready by Tuesday.
Forward Jason Dickinson and defenseman Connor Murphy, meanwhile, have been full participants throughout camp and aren’t question marks for Tuesday. But they do have bigger-picture injury concerns on their minds because of events this summer.
Here’s more information on their respective situations:
Dickinson’s wrist
Dickinson, who missed the final month of last season with an injury to his left wrist, had surgery this summer to repair the joint.
Dickinson’s training was limited until early July, and he found it surprising how many lower-body exercises he couldn’t even do because of his inability to hold things. Things are close to back to normal now, though.
‘‘[It feels] as 100% as anything can feel right after surgery,’’ Dickinson said. ‘‘Its mobility is a little restricted compared to my right. Was it like that before? I don’t know. I didn’t test my ranges, so it’s hard to say. I do notice a little difference in my flexion and rotation, but [it’s] minimal.
‘‘I really thought it was going to feel worse in camp once I got ramped up and started using it more, but I haven’t noticed any issues.’’
Murphy’s groin
Murphy has missed time during each of the last two seasons because of his groin condition, osteitis pubis, and he dealt with more effects from that during the summer.
The latest flare-up wasn’t as severe as the first two, but it still caused discomfort and inhibited what he could do during the first half of the offseason.
‘‘When you’re in-season, you’re taking anti-inflammatory [medicine] and doing things to keep it at bay enough to play,’’ Murphy said. ‘‘When you get off the medication and you rest, the pain can come back. It’s really the same thing. It’s just sometimes pain levels start to jump, and you end up looking at it under a closer microscope in the offseason because you have time to do that.’’
Murphy tried different injections this time and also had an ultrasound that revealed some muscle tears his doctors were able to clean up.
It doesn’t seem likely osteitis pubis will end his career any time soon — the way it did for former Sharks forward Logan Couture — but it might continue to disrupt it from time to time.
‘‘Stuff is confusing to me nowadays,’’ Murphy said. ‘‘I just try to stay present and do what I can to maintain things. . . . You hope that’s it for good, but you never know if it could come back.’’
The Hawks’ dismissal of longtime strength and conditioning coach Paul Goodman after last season also affected Murphy, who had been accustomed to working with Goodman at Fifth Third Arena every summer.
He temporarily had to find a new trainer. That ended up being Patrick Galivan of GVN Performance, who trained Murphy at Johnny’s Icehouse West until the Hawks hired a new strength coach in June.
The new hire is Juan Gonzalez, who was a former GVN director himself before he spent the last two seasons with the Penguins.
‘‘I got lucky that [GVN’s] program was similar,’’ Murphy said. ‘‘When Juan got hired, I could have a smooth transition.’’
