Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill appreciated that Jason Dickinson made no assumptions that he would be in the lineup Sunday.
“He told me he was going to be good to go on Sunday, [that] he’ll ‘be a coach’s decision,'” Blashill said. “I thought that was a great, veteran way to put it.”
Unsurprisingly, Blashill’s decision was easy: put him in. Dickinson’s return after missing 10 games with an apparent shoulder injury should be helpful for the Hawks, who struggled with their center depth over the past week with Dickinson and Nick Foligno sidelined.
Dickinson has been practicing for nearly two weeks, but he didn’t want to risk rejoining the lineup prematurely only to re-aggravate his injury — as happened a couple times in October.
“Unfortunately, I lack [patience] oftentimes,” Dickinson said. “It bites me in the butt, and it did early. This time, I took a little bit longer to make sure I wouldn’t be back on the shelf for another few games after playing a couple.”
He waited for a sign that his body was ready, and that eventually came in the form of workout results in the gym.
I’ve been able to push a little bit more weight and I’ve been able to do movements that I wasn’t able to do a week ago,” he added. “That puts me in a spot where I feel comfortable.”
Blashill immediately slotted Dickinson as the Hawks’ third-line center between Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev, reuniting a trio that generated excellent results early in the season. They entered Sunday having outscored opponents 4-1 with a 21-6 advantage in scoring chances in 35 minutes together.
The Hawks might ultimately have to make a decision between re-signing either Dickinson or Mikheyev at season’s end, but they’ll benefit from having both of them healthy and available in the short term. Dickinson simply hasn’t been enough over the last nine months.
Notes
Andre Burakovsky missed his second consecutive game Sunday. Blashill said there’s no specific timeline for his return.
Louis Crevier blasted the second-hardest shot recorded in the NHL this season — 102.4 mph — last week against the Flames. He had been hungry to get back to triple digits after last doing so in March 2024 (there were a couple close calls last season).