Chicago Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews returns to ice but out against New York Rangers-NHL News
Chicago Blackhawks’ captain and centre, Jonathan Toews, remains an unlikelihood for the team’s home game against the New York Rangers on Friday, March 09, 2012, despite his return to skating on Thursday (March 08, 2012) morning.
Toews skated on his own for the first time since suffering the reported concussion problem about a couple of weeks ago, which encouraged the management to set hopes for his earlier return.
Still, he will not be unable to make it to their Friday’s game against the visiting Rangers, and there is no confirmation either if he could join the squad on the weekend.
The coach, Joel Quenneville, while noting the progress the player has made so far, said that the team was excited to see the player back in the skating boots.
Quenneville said:
"He had a good skate today. He felt good. It's very exciting for us to see him back out here."
Most important for the coach was the player’s ability to skate without any assistance before the start of the team’s practice session earlier in the morning.
He added:
"(He) felt good. That's part of it as well. Big first step seeing him out here. We'll see how he's progressing."
Jonathan has missed eight games straight after reports of him suffering the concussion were confirmed, and despite his comeback on the ice on Thursday, it is expected that he could miss a few more games before declaring his full fitness.
Following Thursday’s skating session, the coach said, the player has confirmed not to be experiencing any symptoms of the injury, making his return a possibility in near future.
Meanwhile, the team had good news from the injury front of defenseman, Niklas Hjalmarsson. He is expected to join the team against Rangers.
Hjalmarsson missed 13 out of last 14 games with concussion, which the player said was a rather agonising period of time for him.
He said:
"It's tough. This is the first time in the last couple years here I've been out for a long period of time. "It's real painful to just be able to practice and not play. Hopefully I'll be out there tomorrow (Friday)."
At the same time, he welcomed the news of Toews skating and called it a step towards right direction.
He said it was encouraging that the player is back and skating, as it normally gets a longer period of time to get fit and back in shape again.
Quenneville, who confirmed Hjalmarsson’s return, said there was no timeline on the captain’s comeback, only hoping he is able to achieve his previous health and fitness sooner.
The team is expecting some boost from Hjalmarsson’s return. They have ended the eight games they played without their captain with the 4-4 (four wins and four losses) record.
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