SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Coach Joel Quenneville likes him some Marko Dano.
At the end of the Blackhawks’ sojourn to Notre Dame, Quenneville was asked which players stood out over the long weekend. The first player Quenneville mentioned was Dano, saying he had a “real nice week.”
Artemi Panarin, who was also mentioned, spent the weekend playing with Teuvo Teravainen and Viktor Tikhonov. No, that’s not a bad group of linemates, but not comparable to Dano’s: Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa.
“I know that the one line that I liked, I liked Dano… seemed to be very productive with Hoss and Johnny,” Quenneville said.
Corey Crawford agreed.
“He’s pretty good,” Crawford said. “To play with Tazer and Hoss too definitely helps but we knew he had some skill before we came here.”
Quenneville also pointed out Ryan Garbutt.
Wish you were here
One of the most dependable and predictable parts of the Hawks was the pairing of Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya. But that’s a thing of the past after the Hawks’ cap woes meant they couldn’t keep Oduya, who signed a free-agent deal with the Dallas Stars.
Hjalmarsson said “it’s a little sad” his countryman is gone.
“That’s one of my best buddies off the ice and a guy I really enjoyed to play with on the ice, too,” Hjalmarsson said. “So I wish him all the best in Dallas except when we play against them and it’ll be fun to see him around.”
Fight, fight
Andrew Shaw and Garret Ross fought, and Quenneville didn’t have a problem with seeing a regular like Shaw drop the gloves. He did have an issue with something, but it wasn’t anything like Shaw risking injury in an ultimately meaningless intrasquad scrimmage early in training camp.
“I just didn’t … I minded how long it went,” Quenneville said.
So, what would Quenneville have preferred?
“I’d rather I was on the ice breaking it up,” he quipped.
In brief
Quenneville said he was hoping Marcus Kruger would be back Monday but wasn’t sure. Kruger wasn’t in South Bend because of a visa issue.
Defensive prospect Kirill Gotovets was hit in the face with the puck and skated off the ice mostly under his own power. Some of his blood was visible where he fell.
Goalie Brandon Hope was released from camp.
