Blackhawks: Week 1 of training camp is over, here’s what to know

The Chicago Blackhawks wrapped up their first week of training camp on Friday. Here’s everything fans need to know to go into week 2.

Week 1 of hockey being back is in the books, now the Chicago Blackhawks can look to week 2 in preparation of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This week, we learned that Corey Crawford could be out for the long term, the Blackhawks have a new term slogan, and ‘unfit to play’ can mean all sorts of things.

Everyone on the training camp roster besides Corey Crawford (all week), Calvin de Haan (family emergency), Connor Murphy (Friday), and Olli Maatta (Friday) went the whole week. There are no known injuries outside of the assumption that Crawford is hurt.

Jeremy Colliton on Crawford:

"“For now there’s no change, but certainly haven’t ruled him out going forward.”"

No change on Crawford status for at least the weekend is something to look at. If he is to return next week, I wouldn’t expect it to be until later in the week.

Due to the agreement, the league made with the NHLPA, unfit to play will be the standard for injuries and everything COVID related to all players. Besides that little thing, everything else should stay the same.

A key signing this week was defensemen Wyatt Kalynuk and forward Pius Suter. These two players will be in the mix next year, as they aren’t going to have any impact on the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Kalynuk was drafted by the Flyers in 2017 but declined to sign there. The Blackhawks signed Kalynuk, after playing college hockey for three seasons, tallying 78 points during that time. Suter is another European free-agent signing the Blackhawks have made. He has comparisons to Dominik Kubalik, as he won MVP in Switzerland’s top league this past season.

Kubalik was the top scorer in the same league just a season ago, if these two can keep adding depth and goals to the Blackhawks lineup, the future is bright in the NHL for both men.

Speaking of Kubalik, he was named a finalist for the Calder Trophy this week by the NHL. There’s a good chance he won’t win it, but he leads the league in goals by a rookie with 30 in just 68 games.

Finally, Ian Mitchell officially signed with the team for three-years. Hopefully, we’ll get to see if all the Mitchell hype is legit during the next two years, as I assume he won’t play the whole 2020-21 season in the NHL.