Practices and scrimmages are necessary elements for training camps, but the Chicago Blackhawks coaching staff won’t be making any roster decisions based on them.
The Blackhawks staff will begin to really assess players on Wednesday by putting them in specific positions against real competition as the Blackhawks open their preseason schedule against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the United Center.
With input from Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, who’s still in Toronto for the World Cup, assistant coaches Kevin Dineen and Mike Kitchen already have some ideas about where certain players might fit into a lineup. The preseason games will allow them to test those theories and adjust as needed.