Declan Chisholm to play in third career NHL game Saturday.
The Winnipeg Jets will have a new face on the blueline for Saturday's contest vs. the Chicago Blackhawks.
Defenceman Declan Chisholm will make his 2023-24 season debut for the Jets when the Blackhawks roll into town for a 2:00 PM central matinee contest.
Drawing out of the lineup is veteran Nate Schmidt, to whom the 23-year-old will replace alongside Dylan Samberg.
The Jets' fifth round pick in 2018 just returned to Winnipeg following a six-game conditioning stint with the AHL's Manitoba Moose, after sitting dormant with the Jets for the entirety of the 2023-24 season thus far.
“We sent him down to play, he played well,” Jets head coach Rick Bowness said Friday. “We’ve got to see what we have here. We send a kid down and he does what we ask him to do, he plays well, you’ve got to get him into a game and tomorrow's the game."
Chisholm's last NHL game was January 29, 2022, a span of nearly two full years.
“When you’re younger, you think you’re going to play (junior), get drafted, maybe get some AHL action and then work your way up and be right in the lineup,” Chisholm said. “You overlook the in-between that I’m in right now.
In his six games with Manitoba, the Ontario product collected five assists. In 146 career AHL games, Chisholm has 16 goals, 91 points and 65 penalty minutes to his name.
