The Chicago Blackhawks called up forward Teuvo Teravainen with the intention of giving him his first prolonged taste of NHL hockey, but that experiment came to an end Thursday night as he was reassigned to the Rockford IceHogs.
Teravainen has played in 15 games with the Blackhawks this season, scoring his first career NHL goal and totaling four points in those contests. He was a first round draft pick of the team in 2012, and is widely believed to be the team’s top prospect.
With Teravainen’s demotion, the Blackhawks made two call-ups on Thursday, bringing up forward Ryan Hartman and defenseman Kyle Cumiskey.
Hartman, the team’s first round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, has 18 points in 47 games with the IceHogs so far this season, and he also has 94 shots on goal on the campaign.
As for Cumiskey, he will be looking to prove that he belongs in the NHL, having played in 132 career NHL games with the Colorado Avalanche before joining the Blackhawks prior to this season.
While Hartman’s call-up makes sense in terms of replacing Teravainen, as he may get a game or two in, he’s more than likely up strictly for insurance purposes and because the Hawks seem to be rotating in forwards on call-ups, the Cumiskey call-up is a bit more curious.
There are two schools of thought on why the Blackhawks are adding an eighth defensemen to their active roster: they either are going to put Tim Erixon on injured reserve—Joel Quenneville said the defenseman is day-to-day, but has been vague on details—or they are about to pull off some sort of a trade.
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Either way, the Blackhawks could potentially have a new face or two in the lineup on Friday night when they take on the New Jersey Devils at 7:30pm in the third game of their eight-game homestand.
