Connor Murphy returned to practice Monday as a full participant for the first time since he had back surgery in September.
Murphy went through drills and skated in a fourth pairing role with Jan Rutta. The Blackhawks’ latest update in September on his return set his timetable around early- to mid-December, so he could be doing some conditioning work to get himself up to speed and adjusted to a new system with head coach Jeremy Colliton.
Murphy scored two goals with 12 assists in 76 games in his first season for Chicago in 2017-18.