Hawks Lose Two Players

According to the Blackhawks Twitter feed, both Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook will be out of the line-up tonight, as the Blackhawks take on the Predators at home. Both have been labelled as out day-to-day with upper-body injuries. There has been no confirmation as to whether or not either player has suffered a concussion, although each instance where they were taken off the ice may suggest it. If a concussion is the case, then neither player will be suiting up for at least a week, but the Blackhawks coaching staff is not going to be quick to show their cards here.

Toews has had somewhat of a slow start to the season with Chicago, only scoring one goal and adding four assists in the first nine games of the season. Last season, Toews led the Blackhawks in goals, despite getting off to a slow start, but an upper-body injury this time around will slow the progress a lot for the moment.

Seabrook has had a better start to the season, compared to his also-injured teammate. Seabrook has registered one goal and six assists in those same nine games from the blueline. That wasn't going to be a trend that would have continued all season, but we'll have to wait and see how long it takes for Toews to pass Seabrook.

Both players feature prominently in both the Draft and the Sheet this season. In the Draft, Chris has Toews and Dale B. has Seabrook. Both of those Draft teams are not faring very well to start the year and injuries certainly are not going to help.

On the Sheet, Toews is a Box 3 forward, taken 22 times, the favourite of the box, while Seabrook is in Box 13 and is the favourite there as well, with 18 picks. It will be interesting to see how the injuries play out and whether or not there will be a mass exodus of these players from their boxes.