Blackhawks Line Projections With Colton Dach Inserted

The Chicago Blackhawks have called up Colton Dach from the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. He is set to make his NHL debut on Friday night against his older brother Kirby Dach’s Montreal Canadiens.

This is a nice move for the Blackhawks who need all of the positive vibes they can get after being blown out by the St. Louis Blues in the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field.

How is Dach going to fit into Chicago’s lineup come puck drop? This is how the forward lines are projected to look with Dach following their practice on Thursday:

Bertuzzi-Bedard-Mikheyev

Dach-Nazar-Teravainen

Hall-Dickinson-Foligno

Maroon-Donato-Smith

The extras in practice were Lukas Reichel and Philipp Kurashev. Colton Dach is set to play with fellow rookie Frank Nazar and Teuvo Teravainen. Connor Bedard is centering Tyler Bertuzzi and Ilya Mikheyev in the top line while Taylor Hall, Jason Dickinson, and Nick Foligno make up the other middle-six line. As for the fourth line, that’s Ryan Donato with Patrick Maroon and Craig Smith.

This is a strange move by Anders Sorensen with Dach coming up. Taking out Lukas Reichel to get Dach in there doesn’t make a ton of sense. Dach is supposed to be a part of the youth movement. Replacing young Reichel with Dach doesn't support that.

None of the veterans on the team are playing so well that they must be in the lineup. Reichel is far from the problem. In fact, besides Connor Bedard, few use their speed to gain the zone better than him on the whole team.

The hope for Chicago is that, despite the confusing process that led to Dach getting into the lineup, he can play well in his first game which also happens to come against his brother who is also a former Blackhawks draft pick.

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