Brandon Saad Primed for Blackhawks Return Prior to All-Star Break

The Chicago Blackhawks could be set to welcome back a key piece this weekend as Brandon Saad appears to be poised to make his return to the lineup after a four-week absence.

Four weeks ago, in a game against the Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad took a nasty fall after a collision with Jets defenseman Luca Sbisa. At first glance, the fall looked gruesome, to say the least, and had many Blackhawks faithful questions if they had lost Saad for the remained of the 2019-2020 season.

An MRI later and it was revealed that Saad would be out a few weeks and Blackhawk fandom took a gigantic sigh of relief. Although the Blackhawks would be without one of their most productive players for a significant period of time they at least would be getting him back eventually, which appears as if it could be Saturday in Toronto or Sunday against the team he originally suffered the injury again, the Jets.

Saad’s return will be a welcomed one as they are still without center Dylan Strome and forward Andrew Shaw but it will be curious to see where he slots into the lineup. Since Saad’s injury, the lineup has seen many permutations including the injection of Patrick Kane and Dominik Kubalik onto the top line.

I’m interested to see if Colliton is willing to keep the “nuclear” option together considering they are adding more offensive depth with Saad’s return. The line featuring Saad, Alex Debrincat and Kirby Dach could be interesting or even something along the lines of Saad, Dach and Ryan Carpenter.

Whatever the case may be the return of Saad give the Blackhawks a major contributor back and allows Colliton to be a little more flexible with the lineup. The return of Saad will also be a welcomed one for the Rockford Ice Hogs who have been cleaned out of their best players with the number of injuries the Blackhawks have suffered this season.

Whether it is Saturday or Sunday the Blackhawks will be happy to welcome the SaadFather back and hope that as they continue to get healthy can push for that final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.