EDMONTON, Alberta — During the Rockford IceHogs’ brief playoff run last season, Alex Vlasic, Isaak Phillips, Louis Crevier and Filip Roos collectively formed two-thirds of their defensive corps.
On Tuesday against the Oilers, that foursome collectively formed two-thirds of the Blackhawks’ defensive corps.
With Seth Jones now sidelined by an upper-body injury while Kevin Korchinski remains away from the team (attending to a family matter) and Jarred Tinordi recovers from a concussion, the Hawks are essentially rolling with the 2022-23 Rockford defense as their own.
Connor Murphy and Nikita Zaitsev are the only two healthy veterans, and both of them have endured their own struggles this season.
Coach Luke Richardson’s main advice Tuesday for his extremely shorthanded unit was simply to “play from the inside out.”
Jones seemingly injured his shoulder Sunday against the Capitals when he took a hit from Washington forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel late in the third period. After the game, he was spotted walking into the X-ray room, but Richardson later said he was “only sore” and would “absolutely” travel to Edmonton.
Seth Jones appeared to injure his shoulder on this hit from Nicolas Aube-Kubel on Sunday, shortly before the Capitals' 4th goal: pic.twitter.com/RohB4Lw0fF
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 12, 2023
Come Tuesday, however, Jones was not present. Richardson said he stayed back in Chicago for further evaluation.
Roos was called up from the AHL for his 18th career NHL appearance (and his first since March). Phillips, who was in the AHL as recently as last week, made his 32nd career appearance. Crevier, who was in the AHL two weeks ago, made his fifth career appearance. And Vlasic, making his 47th career appearance, took over quarterbacking the top power-play unit.
Jones’ oversized contract has made him a lightning rod for criticism, but he’s unquestionably the most important part of the Hawks’ defense and a significantly better player than some fans realize. When he missed 10 games in November 2022 with a thumb injury, the Hawks dearly felt his absence, going 2-6-2 during that stretch.
Richardson went out of his way recently to demonstrate why much of Jones’ criticism is unfair. He mentioned a play Dec. 2 against the Jets in which Vlasic and Taylor Raddysh were both beaten along the wall on a Jets rush; Jones scrambled over but was unable to prevent a goal.
“So we all point fingers at [Seth], because it looks like he’s not doing his job at the end of the play, but he does a lot of good things right,” Richardson said.
Jones ranks fourth in the NHL (entering Tuesday) in time on ice, averaging 25:25 per game — trailing only Philadelphia’s Travis Sanheim, Los Angeles’ Drew Doughty and Washington’s John Carlson. He ranked 12th last season at 24:27 per game.
And although his 43.3% five-on-five scoring-chance ratio doesn’t look particularly pretty, only Korchinski (46.7%) and Phillips (45.7%) tout better ratios and Jones faces much tougher matchups than them. Jones is at 48.2% over his last 14 games, too.
For him, the most frustrating thing has been his lack of scoring. He remains stuck on zero goals after potting 12 last season.
He’s shooting more frequently than he has in any season since 2017-18, and his scoring chance-per-minute rate is the highest of his career. But pucks just aren’t going in. He entered Tuesday with the most shots on goal (60) of any NHL player without a goal.
“It’s a struggle,” Jones said last week. “We’re not a big rush team, so there’s not a lot of chances that come from there. I’ve got to find a way to be a little bit more involved without being careless and over-aggressive and giving up chances the other way. That’s the line I’m trying to fight right now.”
Korchinski’s absence is also problematic, considering he has accounted for 19:31 average ice time per game and had been — along with Vlasic — one of the Hawks’ two most reliable young defensemen. It’s equally unclear how long Korchinski and Jones will each be gone.
