Jason Dickinson returns to Blackhawks' lineup after latest frustrating injury

Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill appreciated that Jason Dickinson made no assumptions that he would be in the lineup Sunday against the Avalanche.

"He told me he was going to be good to go on Sunday, [that] he’ll 'be a coach’s decision,'" Blashill said. "I thought that was a great, veteran way to put it."

Unsurprisingly, Blashill's decision was easy: put him in. Dickinson's return after missing 10 games with an apparent shoulder injury should be helpful for the Hawks, who struggled with their center depth recently with both Dickinson and Nick Foligno sidelined.

Dickinson has been practicing for nearly two weeks, but he didn't want to risk rejoining the lineup prematurely only to re-aggravate his injury — as happened a couple times in October.

"Unfortunately, I lack [patience] oftentimes," Dickinson said. "It bites me in the butt, and it did early [this season]. This time, I took a little bit longer to make sure I wouldn't be back on the shelf for another few games after playing a couple."

He waited for a sign that his body was ready, and that eventually came in the form of workout results.

I've been able to push a little bit more weight and I've been able to do movements that I wasn't able to do a week ago," he added. "That puts me in a spot where I feel comfortable."

Blashill immediately slotted Dickinson as the Hawks' third-line center between Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev, reuniting a trio that generated excellent results early in the season. They entered Sunday having outscored opponents 4-1 with a 21-6 advantage in scoring chances in 35 minutes together.

The Hawks might ultimately have to make a decision between re-signing either Dickinson or Mikheyev at season's end, but they'll benefit from having both of them healthy and available in the short term. Dickinson simply hasn't been enough over the last nine months.

More injuries?

The Hawks now have two injured players: Foligno and Andre Burakovsky. On Sunday, they missed their fourth and second consecutive games, respectively.

That's not too bad compared to some teams around the league, though. There has been a crazy rash of injuries in recent weeks, some obvious (Islanders defenseman Alex Romanov was ruled out for five-plus months after a controversial hit from Mikko Rantanen) and some bizarre (Devils forward Jack Hughes was ruled out for eight weeks after cutting his hand at a team dinner).

Is the schedule this season — slightly condensed due to the Olympics — a contributing factor? It's hard to say.

Random stats

Entering Sunday, the Hawks had been whistled for icing the puck 57 times this season, while their opponents had done so only 31 times. That minus-26 differential in icings was the worst in the league. The Hawks did have a valid complaint Thursday when a non-calling icing — that looked like it should've been called — led to the Kraken's first goal.

It's an equally negative picture in terms of offside calls: the Hawks had been called offside 50 times, while their opponents had been called only 35 times. That minus-15 differential was the third-worst in the league.

Here's a more positive random stat: Louis Crevier blasted the second-hardest shot recorded in the NHL this season — 102.4 mph — last week against the Flames. The big defenseman had been hungry to get back to triple digits after last doing so in March 2024 (there were a couple close calls last season).