The Blackhawks are finally starting to get healthy. Frank Nazar and André Burakovsky will be back in the lineup on Thursday night in Carolina, putting two top-six pieces back in the lineup up front. That should help an offense that’s been struggling to get a third goal on the board.
Burakovsky was back skating on a line with Connor Bedard and Ryan Greene, while Nazar was back on a line with Tyler Bertuzzi. After the Blackhawks practice on Wednesday, Nazar talked again about playing with Bertuzzi and how their play complements each other. Ryan Donato was with Nazar and Bertuzzi; hopefully that can help open him up with some more offensive opportunities.
But having more bodies than he has available roster spots is going to make for some tough decisions for Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill and his staff in the coming days.
Teuvo Teräväinen was on the ice before the rest of the team practiced on Wednesday. Blashill said they expect him to be back before the Olympics, but wouldn’t put a timeline on it.
“It’s still a day-to-day thing,” Blashill said Wednesday. “He’s not going to travel so he’s not playing tomorrow. But after that I would take it as day by day.”
A good sign for the #Blackhawks Teuvo Teravainen is skating before practice on Wednesday pic.twitter.com/3MlB5doi75
— Tab Bamford (@The1Tab) January 21, 2026Blackhawks Roster Decisions Looming
Blashill was asked about those potentially tough roster decisions at some point in the not-too-distant future. Based on the lines we saw at practice on Wednesday, it appears Colton Dach and Sam Lafferty will be in the press box Thursday night.
When Teräväinen is ready to return, the Blackhawks might want/need to move someone to Rockford just so they can get regular ice time.
“I think it’s a good thing … to have tough roster decisions,” he said. “Certainly we are mindful of the long-term development of some of the young players and so, we’re trying to put guys into positions that they can succeed. So if it gets to a point where a young guy maybe isn’t playing, you look at potentially using Rockford, but we’ll take that when it comes. We’re not there yet at all.”
Trade Time?
Of course a trade could change the necessity for an AHL stint, but Blashill didn’t rule that out, either. I asked Blashill about there effectively being two trade deadlines this season: one before the Olympic freeze and then the league’s hard deadline 12 days after the return to NHL action. He didn’t close the door on the Blackhawks potentially doing something before the pre-Olympic freeze:
“Certainly it’s a unique year that way that there may be some activity over the next week and a half, but we’ll see.” Blashill said. “I think a lot of times what happens is the GMs a lot of times are at the World Juniors, they come back from that and there’s some activity, then it settles down a little bit. We’ll see if it continues, if it settles down or if it heats up here.”
Blashill has liked the chemistry that’s developing between Oliver Moore and Nick Lardis, and regularly speaks highly of Moore’s play since he moved to center. At Wednesday’s practice, Moore and Lardis were joined by Landon Slaggert — and they appeared to be skating in a fourth-line role.
Slaggert has seen his role primarily be in a defensive set and on the penalty kill; he’s a dog on the puck and plays aggressively. He is actually generating the most scoring chances per 60 minutes on the Blackhawks roster, however, just ahead of Lardis.
With Nazar returning to his spot as the second-line center and Greene taking most of the faceoffs on the top line with Bedard, finding the right opportunities for Moore at center could become tricky.
Most of the league-wide speculation on the Blackhawks’ roster has been focused on defenseman Connor Murphy in recent weeks, but the Blackhawks have a number of other veterans in the final years of their respective contracts. There has also been talk about Jason Dickinson being available.
Dickinson is a great leader in the room and his value to the Blackhawks is based largely on him being one of the better defensive centers in the league. But that’s also why he would be valuable to a contender looking to make a deep run in the playoffs.
Whenever the Blackhawks begin making moves, it will open more doors for young skaters to elevate themselves in the NHL lineup. But the good problem the Blackhawks are going to have to deal with before then is finding when — and where — their young players get ice time to continue developing until the NHL ice time is available.
Hence then, the article about blackhawks looming roster decisions trade freeze deadline intrigue was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Blackhawks Looming Roster Decisions, Trade Freeze/Deadline Intrigue )
Also on site :