Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith, recovering from offseason knee surgery, will play for the first time in the preseason when the Hawks face the Detroit Red Wings tonight at the United Center.
“I haven’t played in a game in a long time, like a lot of guys, so [I’m just] going to keep it simple and I’ll just get that feeling back again,” Keith said.
Keith said his rehabilitated right knee “feels good” at this point and doesn’t expect to have to nurse it through the season. But he also doesn’t know how it will respond to the rigors of real games. He said he expects to play in the regular-season opener against the Blues on Oct. 12 the United Center.
“It’s one of those things where it’s going to be just focusing on maintaining my health and doing everything I can to make sure I’m feeling as good as I can to play,” Keith said. “I know it feels good. I’ve done a lot of rehab and it feels good.
“It’s not something I can really look too far ahead and want to do the best I can in the immediate future. Right now, it doesn’t really affect me out there. So I just want to keep it that way.”
Coach Joel Quenneville also does not anticipate Keith having to pace himself through the regular season, though it’s likely he won’t play the yeoman’s ice time he has in recent years.
“He’s going to be fresh and it shouldn’t be a problem,” Quenneville said.
With the knee currently sound, Keith feels he is in typically good shape for the regular season. Keith said he anticipates wading into the deep end in his first game back — but only because he has not played rather than because of the knee.
“I feel good,” he said. “Obviously I haven’t played a game, so it’s going to be different. But I just want to be smart and keep the shifts short — keep it simple and then get in the swing of things. I think that’s like everybody. When you haven’t played in a while, you want to keep things simple. You don’t want to try and do too much. It’s always something I’ve tried to focus on.”
Keith’s expected availability for the season opener takes some of the sting from Niklas Hjalmarsson’s suspension that will force him to miss the opener against the Blues next week.
Hjalmarsson declined to comment on his three-game suspension — he’ll also miss the final two preseason games — for a blow to the head of Blues forward Ty Rattie in the Hawks’ 4-0 victory in St. Louis on Saturday. Rattie was reported to be “fine” after the game, coach Ken Hitchcock said.
“I said everything I had to say yesterday in my hearing,” Hjalmarsson said. “It’s always disappointing to miss one regular season game, but I’m glad Rattie is fine and I said everything I had to say in the hearing yesterday. That’s all I’m going to say about that.”
Quenneville also declined to comment on the suspension. “I’m not a part of the process. It’s their decision, so we’ll move on from it and deal with it,” he said.
With Corey Crawford and Jonathan Toews back on the ice, Marian Hossa in the building and Keith ready to play for the first time in the preseason the Blackhawks are just about at full strength with two games remaining in the preseason.
Crawford, who started one game and played half of another for Team Canada in the World Cup, will start tonight and split time with back-up Scott Darling against the Detroit Red Wings at the United Center. Toews and Hossa are unlikely to play prior to the regular-season opener.
“I’m not worried about [Toews],” coach Joel Quenneville said. “But Crow … he’s only played a game and a half over a long [period] of time. Commend him on hiw well he played. Practiced great, but getting that net and 60-minute game behind him is what we’ll look for on Saturday.”
Crawford said he felt good, but was looking forward to playing in a preseason game.
“We got a lot of work in practice [at the World Cup], so I feel sharp,” he said. “It will be good to get back in there and see some ice time. I felt great in practice [Tuesday]. We’ll see when we get thing thing going.”
