His upper-body injury is slowly getting better, but the Chicago Blackhawks made an important roster move on Friday as they placed center Jonathan Toews on injured reserve.
Toews, who suffered the injury during the team's recent road trip, will be placed on injured reserve retroactive to Nov. 24, and will be replaced on the active roster by Trevor van Riemsdyk.
With the decision to place Toews on I.R. retroactive to the date of the injury, he is eligible to be activated off of the list at any time. He did skate before the team's workout on Friday in Chicago, but will not play in Saturday afternoon's game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
When Toews does come back, the Blackhawks will have a decision to make in regards to their roster. Teams are only allowed to carry 23 players, and bringing Toews back would push the Blackhawks to 24.
In all likelihood, the Blackhawks will either waive Michal Rozsival or send a player like Nick Schmaltz down to the AHL. They could also waive Andrew Desjardins, but it's unclear at this point what Stan Bowman plans to do when Toews is healthy.
