With Jones out for a little while, the Blackhawks' defense has to step up.
With Jones out for a little while, the Blackhawks' defense has to step up.
The Chicago Blackhawks suffered bad news when Seth Jones got injured and he is expected to be out for a little while. In his absence, the Blackhawks' defense has to step up so that the team can still compete every night.
It is no easy task losing a number one defender that does everything on the ice for the Blackhawks. Jones' plays well over 25 minutes per night, is on the top power-play unit, and kills penalties as well. In all areas, Chicago has to find a way to fill the void.
Head coach Luke Richardson said, "We can't be Seth Jones. We're not going to be him. I think just by the committee. I think for the young guys, it's an opportunity." By young guys he means Alex Vlasic, Wyatt Kaiser, and Nolan Allan especially. Those three are all 23 years of age or younger and have all played the majority of the games this season.
Vlasic is already averaging over 23 minutes per game this season and is going to likely get even more, but Kaiser (17:22 ATOI) and Allan (13:03 ATOI) are in for some considerable increases.
Richardson also noted that, "I think Allan came back in tonight and played a real good, strong, physical game and eat up some of those minutes that we're losing. And Martinez, another strong game. He's got that veteran presence and he's going to be able to pick up a lot of slack as well."
It's going to be easier to pick up the defensive slack than the offensive slack from Jones being out of the lineup. Nobody on the team matches the former All-Star's capabilities, but someone like Martinez has been a defensive stud his entire career. The offense will have to start coming from every defenseman because the forwards aren't doing that much to carry the load offensively.
"We're just going to have to massage that around, all of the six guys that are in there at any given night because he'll be out for a little while." Unfortunately, Jones was having a bounce-back season with this group that had hopes of at least improving from last season.
There's no worry if he'll be back this season, but it does give the Blackhawks a great opportunity to get a longer and better look at some of their younger defensemen that will likely be a part of their plans moving forward.
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