Chicago's high-energy "muscle ball" has roared back from debilitating sports hernia and surgery.

Colin Blackwell, the Blackhawks stocky fire plug forward, is the 2023-24 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy nominee of the Chicago chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association.

The Masterton is awarded to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. It's named after Bill Masterton, the only player in NHL history to die as a direct result of injuries suffered during a game. 

Blackwell has been a ball of fire — or as coach Luke Richardson calls him, a "muscle ball" — since returning from sports hernia surgery on Dec. 19, 2023. The 5-foot-9, 190-pound Lawrence, Massachusetts native underwent the procedure in March 2023 and endured a challenging recovery.

The injury was supposed to sideline him from for only 12 weeks. Blackwell said setbacks made the condition so rough that he struggled with daily activities, even walking his dog.

Came Back With Verve in December

The Harvard graduate eventually roared back with bark and energy.

Game after game, Blackwell gave his injury-depleted team a lift with spirited forechecking, defensive play and penalty killing. He had his scoring chances, too, including a steady wave of breakaways. He's fired off 83 shots on goal in 39 contests.

Blackwell, a seventh-round draft pick of San Jose in 2011, wasn't converting the chances often at first. But then the 31-year-old started to break through, notching his first career hat trick against Arizona on March 10. 

He has eight goals and four assists overall, and is a minus-1 on a rebuilding team with a minus-96 goals differential.

Blackwell's hat trick came two days after the NHL's trade deadline. He was glad to still be a Blackhawk.

"This is where I said I wanted to be and I'm enjoying my role here," Blackwell said. "I think I mesh really well with some of the young guys and I really am grateful for the opportunity that I'm getting and playing here. 

"Obviously I missed a lot of time in the beginning of the year, so 17, 18 more games here to go to prove that this is where I want to be."

Injured Again, Returns Again, Versus Dallas

Blackwell was prospering on a checking-first line with Jason Dickinson and Joey Anderson when he was hurt again. He suffered an upper-body injury on in Los Angeles on March 19 on an awkward collision with Kevin Fiala.

Blackwell will return on Saturday against Dallas. See his explanation in the video and the link below to a story.

"He's a guy, he's like a little muscle ball," Richardson said. "He's built, he's always in the gym, he's working on his body all the time to be a 100 percent pro all the time and he's doing a good job at it and he's a good mentor for the younger guys and how he looks after himself. He's not afraid to tell the other guys to get in there too with him. He's got that personality, so that's great.

"It's good to see him have some success. And you know what, it's all determination from him, but we can't do anything but provide him the opportunity and he made the most of it."