Before the game even began, the Chicago Blackhawks did something ridiculous by scratching rookie defenseman Henri Jokiharju and putting newcomer Slater Koekkoek in the lineup over him. I understand the team is terrible this year and head coach Jeremy Colliton is trying to play around with lineup to see what works. However, scratching the best defenseman your team has after just allowing him to miss ten games for World Juniors is unacceptable.
Yes, he didn’t have the best game against the Rangers on Thursday. He was on the ice for 11 scoring chances against and six high-danger scoring chances against.