Chicago Blackhawks

Blackhawks' Center Depth Takes Another Hit After Injury to Philipp Kurashev

Hawks' center depth takes another hit after injury to Kurashev originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Blackhawks forward Philipp Kurashev left in the first period of Tuesday's 6-1 loss to the Washington Capitals with an upper-body injury and did not return. There wasn't much of an update after the game, either.

"We'll have to check tomorrow but he was pretty sore tonight," Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson told reporters. "We'll have to figure that out and let the doctors check him after it settles down tonight."

Kurashev took a hit from Capitals forward Tom Wilson on his second shift of the game and immediately skated to the bench hunched over. He was in some noticeable pain on the bench and eventually went to the locker room.

With Jonathan Toews still out, Cole Guttman done for the season because of a shoulder injury, Max Domi and Sam Lafferty traded, and now the injury to Kurashev, the Blackhawks' center depth has taken a massive hit. There are only 11 games left in the season, and they're basically just crawling to the finish line at this point with all the bodies they've lost.

In Kurashev's absence, Jujhar Khaira took a few reps as the first-line center with Andreas Athanasiou and Lukas Reichel. Athanasiou had some center-type responsibilities as well, winning five of 10 faceoffs. Not an ideal situation for the Blackhawks.

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